"Kwame A River"

I'm on my way back to sleep, it's late on a Monday night / early Tuesday morning and I really have no business up. But, of course, I'm up surfin' around, lookin' at some news, and I found some. It may not be the latest, but it's a story I heard that I thought would just be a joke. Apparently, they were serious. According to Fox 2 news Detroit website:

"Kwame A River" is an original play satirizing Kwame Kilpatrick's tenure as Mayor of Detroit. It is a hilarious spoof that answers the questions you've always wanted to know about Kilpatrick's time as mayor, from security guards to stripper parties.

"Kwame a River" features dozens of local characters that will be familiar to Detroiters, from Kwame scandal icons like Christine Beatty, Carlita Kilpatrick and Mike Cox to Detroit cultural icons like Carmen Harlen, Chuck Gadica, Huel Perkins, Bill Bonds, Mel Farr, and attorney Sam Bernstein.

"Kwame a River" comically exposes the secret meeting where Kwame seduced Gov. Jennifer Granholm to stay in office, the advice Kwame was given by Dennis Archer and the ghost of Coleman A. Young, the anger management session that Kwame took his security force to, and the rumored party at the Manoogian mansion.

Me personally, I'm not laughing. I'm sitting here, wondering how long before mean in all black SUV's pull up outside the Second City-Detroit stage and have a few "conversations" with the actors. I understand tryin' to light of a bad situation, but this is just a poor attempt to make more fun of a man and the city he once represented. Do they really think that because they're fro Detroit that makes it better? That's like a white guy telling a racist joke and because one black person laugh, it's alright for them all to laugh. I've been in Detroit all my life, and only now do I want to do something about the way things are goin'. But, politics are not for me. Makin' contributions to worthy causes, that's me. Standin' up for what I believe is best for the city, that's me. Returnin' after college to be an example of the good within Detroit, that's me. Those little things in themselves may not seem like much, but let enough people realize the inevitability of this situation, and we may be able to do something before it's too late.


Kwame Kilpatrick became Detroit's youngest mayor when elected in 2001. Kilpatrick beat out Gil Hill and Freman Hendrix to secure two successful terms and Detroit mayor. In that time, most of what the mayor did for the city was trampled by malicious scandals and bad press. Not to sugarcoat anything, Kilpatrick was embroiled in the Manoogian Mansion party controversy, the murder of Tamara Greene, Whistleblower trial (where police officers claimed to be fired due to an internal investigation of the mayor), and the infamous Text-messaging scandal with chief of staff Christine Beatty. It's not my place to give my personal opinion about any of these issues, due to the fact that I don't know all the facts. When I have the time I will look closer into each of these and take a stance on them. For now, I will say that the longer these things continue to be a factor, Detroit will be on the receiving in of high criticism and lost hope. You can call him the "Hip-Hop mayor", like hip-hop implies unsuccessful, if you want to, but I call him an example. A good and bad example of how you should feel about where you come from. See, I have a personal stake in this somehow because the former mayor always reminded me of my brother-in-law. Not in how he looked or anything, but how he carried himself. A younger man, with a business savvy who knew how to handle his business. That's how I look at my bro. He's a deacon, and makes bein' a deacon seem cool. Just as Kwame made bein' mayor seem like the right thing to do. So with that, Kwame gave me ambition to not just talk about makin' a difference, but bein' about it (excluding any illegal business that may or may not have taken place.)


Anyway, I'm done for now. On a related note, Christine Beatty began her 120 day sentence for lying under oath on yesterday. The former mayor is expected to have completed his jail sentencing sometime in February. Awaiting him is 5 more years of probation, after time, only then will be able to ever run for any office again. But honestly, there are two reasons I'd never run for anything else if I were him. Once reason is because I know I would be disappointed because of the lack of respect, and the other is because my colleagues would not trust me nor any of my decisions. That's okay. People like this always seem to bounce back from adversity somehow or another. I heard some black people tell me once, "You can't keep a good nigga down!" Maybe that's the high point of all this, and if so, at least there is a high point. Until next time, everyone, please, do not be a failure!