I feel sorry for former Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick. I've followed this brother's life over the past few years, watching him fall from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, with one scandal after another further tarnishing an image that has come to be even dingier than that of the darkest parts of Detroit. In some ways, Kilpatrick's fall has paralleled that of his own city, which has seen unemployment rates as high as 30% and is now perceived to be a haven of violence, despair and police misconduct. The recent police shooting of Aiyana Jones is another case in point.

I was scheduled to keynote the National Black Law Student Convention in Detroit a couple of years ago with my respected colleagues Charles Ogletree of Harvard University and Eddie Glaude from Princeton. One other keynote speaker whose absence was conspicuously noted was Mr. Kilpatrick himself. His name had become practically forbidden from the lips of anyone attending the conference, and I could tell that the NBLSA leadership might have had some regrets about inviting him.


At the time of the NBLSA convention, Kwame had just begun his dive to the bottom of American politics. I don't exactly remember what level of scandal he'd reached by that point, but it was still fresh and new enough to spark conversation and surprise. He was still the mayor of Detroit at that time, and there was even a bit of hope that his political career might recover. But two years later, Kilpatrick was last seen being led out of the courtroom in handcuffs, being reprimanded by a judge like a 15-year old petty thief.

The judge effectively said that Kilpatrick is a chronic liar. The former mayor of Detroit allegedly told the judge that after expenses, he only had $6 per month to repay his court ordered restitution. According to Judge David Groner of Wayne County, Kilpatrick said that he doesn't know if his wife works or how much he pays per month in rent. He was also accused of hiding his income in order to avoid repaying the people he owes. Kilpatrick has been sentenced to 1.5 - 5 years in prison, and given a harsher sentence than the Michigan state guidelines.

Kwame Kilpatrick was once a political superstar, being featured in national media as the future of black politics. I remember being a little disappointed upon seeing him for the first time, since I didn't necessarily observe the kind of vision and focus one would expect from a young man who'd been blessed with so much power. Instead, I saw a black George W. Bush: a man who'd been cursedly privileged with more power than he was ready to receive, but naive and arrogant enough to believe that he deserved it. He walked with a swagger that no politician should carry, for his demeanor was devoid of the humility necessary to become an effective leader. Taking the helm of a city as traumatized and complicated as Detroit is a solemn commitment, one that should be approached with a tremendous amount of determined reflection. Kwame did his city a huge disservice by turning the Mayor's office into his own ego-feeding center, and the city did a disservice to Kwame by electing him.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book, "Black American Money." To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.