I knew this was going to happen. As soon as text-happy Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was arraigned, the "support our brother" crowd would materialize and rally around him. I just didn't expect it to happen in one of my university alumni forums.
OK. I did.
While there were only 15 official supporters when I checked, the reasons given for supporting Kilpatrick strained logic to the breaking point: No one is perfect. Don't we all have dirty laundry? Only God can judge.
Oh, please. Technically, the rap against him falls into the "alleged" category until the court has its say. But the case against him is damning, and it paints a picture of an arrogant, vindictive toolbag who went to great lengths to hide his tomfoolery. Yeah, nobody's perfect, but few of us have the power to cover our arses using millions in taxpayer dollars. And you know what? I don't care that he's a fellow alum, a so-called role model in public office, whatever. Wouldn't it be a better idea to "support" the family he has so greatly humiliated? Or the citizens of Detroit who are suffering through this tawdry sideshow?
I worked at three different newspapers, and each time a high-profile, trifling black man set off a scandal, he had supporters who blamed the media instead of decrying the activity that got our attention. I remember being at a meeting for a private organization I used to belong to, and one woman suggested that we show up at a county commission meeting to applaud the return of a scandal-ridden official because he was "family." Applaud! Thank God the response was crickets chirping.
There are pea-brained racists who use these examples to denigrate black people, but I don't give a crap about them. They are idiots. What I really want to know is why otherwise lucid people feel the need to support the likes of Kilpatrick — let alone the R. Kellys, Michael Vicks and Mike Tysons of the world.
