A shadow of her former self.....

I may get razzed about this, but I still sometimes can not help but feel sorry for Christine Beatty as I see the Mayor move on with his life. Her life seems to be somewhat on hold, and the future is very uncertain for her. She was a fool in love, and now seems to be very much alone. The prosecutor and the media has encouraged her to turn on the Mayor, which I doubt she will do. Hopefully she will reconsider it when the case gets to trial. Once in a major position of power as the Mayor's Chief of Staff, according to the Metro Times' Jack Lessenberry , Christine Beatty is now a shadow of her former self. He saw her at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner in Cobo Hall last week, and made some observations regarding her in his weekly column.

“....Seen on the sidelines:

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick spoke briefly at the Freedom Fund dinner. His remarks were fairly brief and unremarkable. He didn't mention his own trials, upcoming or otherwise, though he did subtly attempt to place himself in a tradition of heroes and martyrs stretching back to Emmett Till.

In a slightly bizarre touch, he referred to the Rev. Wright as a "verbal acrobat," which made me wonder how much the mayor himself understood the meaning of this man. The crowd's reaction to the mayor was interesting too. He received what you might call "polite" applause (the person sitting next to me called it tepid.)

Dennis Archer, who was honored a few minutes later, got a much bigger hand. There was a feeling of mild tension when Kwame was on stage, as if his presence reminded people of things they didn't want to think about. He made a point of reminding people that his wife Carlita was there. Then somebody nudged me; look.

Standing in the entrance to one of the hall's sections, apparently all alone, was a somewhat drawn-looking Christine Beatty, the mayor's former chief of staff and lover, whom he discarded like an old fish wrapper last winter, in an effort to save his own political skin.

Gone was any trace of the famous arrogance that used to be on display. Occasionally people — women, mostly — would come up and offer her a few words, shake her hand, give her a hug.

She neither glanced in the mayor's direction (she was more than a football field away) or, as far as I could tell, looked at the monitor while he spoke. After half an hour or so, she slipped quietly away.”

NAACP Glitz along with reality...................

Yesterday afternoon, I dropped my daughter off downtown to attend the NAACP annual Fight for Freedom Dinner. Our church sponsored her and other youth, and I was determined that she make it there as I walked her into the COBO lobby. After she went in the main hall, I stayed for a while and observed the prominent folks and the bigwigs coming in. I ran into a woman that I met on my first cruise, and even seen a former classmate from school. I also saw Martha Reeves, the Motown singer, now councilwoman there also. There were some lovely dressed women down there and even seen some couples that were coordinated in African themed garb. My eyes feasted on some beautiful green printed fabric worn by an African couple, and she had a lovely turban wrap also. I was elated that my daughter was able to attend the dinner, and I hope to go when she will be working there next year.

But a question bugged me as I walked back to my car, rode through the city, and thought about the folks that I watched swarming into the event. How many of those folks attending the NAACP's dinner that came to see former President Clinton speak, actually live in the city? It just reminded me of the hypocritical nature of folks. When I found out that several prominent ministers who are over some big congregations in the city, really do not live in the city, it just reminded of how the city is being sucked dry. The sad thing to me, is that they do not understand that there are others that are now investing their livelihood and even putting themselves out there by living in the city. When will they understand that when those with the means (Money, Connections, & Knowledge) hang in the trenches, the war can be won? It is just too easy to dip your feet in the water, and step back when things are not comfortable. I find it disappointing that those folks and others feel it is easier to live outside the parameters of Detroit, and still not hesitant to feed off of what the city has still has to offer without putting some real substance back into the city.