Borrowing from Spike Lee....."Do The Right Thing"

At times I am tired of trying to hang in with Detroit. Some folks, like a certain family member would respond, "Then get the Hell on...." I just wish it was that easy to disentangle myself from certain responsibilities, and take off for greener pastures, which is an anomaly. As I travel and shop around the city, I see folks of all nationalities hanging in, trying to make a living, and trying to maintain a residence despite the crime, pathetic services, undesirable neighbors, and the fact that this area is in an economic depression. I have not physically worked in the city since 1998. Most of positions that I was able to secure were in the suburbs. Many of my suburban coworkers, both black and white, quizzically could not understand why I stayed here. I stayed here because my family is here, some of my closest friends are here, and some of my favorite places are here, for example, Belle Isle and the African American Museum.

I voted for Kilpatrick when he was first elected as mayor, with hope that he would continue to improve this city. After the first two years, I felt that it was a mistake. After the mayor's antics, and despite his public apologies, I voted for Freman Hendrix in the next election. To this day, I do not really believe that Kilpatrick truly won the second election. It was too close, some of the election workers raised concerns, and I feel that the political machinery in place made sure he was kept in that job. Some of the prominent black citizens and media personalities in the city who are supportive of Mayor Kilpatrick, indicate that they think Mayor Kilpatrick should be allowed to continue in his job. Later I understood the main reasoning behind that school of thought, is that Mayor Kilpatrick was a public official when alleged crimes happened, so he is still entitled to paid legal assistance that the city 's charter affords him. If Mayor Kilpatrick does not step down before his term is up, the only way we can get him to go is to recall him, or he be convicted of a crime. Right now I think folks are too nervous to sign a recall proposal, after rumors of two dead women are still lingering around. Politically and visually, Detroit is really starting to look like one of those third World countries...........

As I did some research, I found out that many of the openly supportive citizens have personal and professional relationships with the mayor, so I now throughly understand their allegiance. I just hope that is not the case with our Wayne County Prosecutor. Kym Worthy, the prosecutor has spoken Friday, indicating that her department will investigate throughly and will not be rushed. She also revealed that the Mayor contacted her, which was a rare occurrence, to let her know that he will not be endorsing anyone for the Wayne County Prosecutor's race. I know that if I was in her shoes, and barely had a friendship with him, I would have thought that the call was odd and that he wanted something.

But I do believe that she was savvy enough to know something was up. Ms. Worthy even probably already knew about some of the behind the scenes' goings on. However, she indicated in Friday's news conference, she was surprised about the text messages as we were when the news first came out. I also believe that Mayor Kilpatrick had to have said more in that phone conversation, but I doubt that Ms Worthy is going to reveal that. As I have indicated before, I just hope that she can successfully perform her job in a fair and ethical manner and only time will tell how things will pan out.