Summary
During the campaign, I heard all the talk about how [Freman Hendrix] wasn't a "real brother" just like I heard descriptions of [Kilpatrick] that more closely resembled the late rapper Biggie Smalls. Since the polls closed, some local pundits suggested that Kilpatrick benefited disproportionately from the younger voters who nobody figured would actually care enough to vote (even though they voted in significant numbers during last year's presidential election), and the poorer, more disenfranchised Detroiters who nobody figured were intelligent enough to vote. These are the so-called "unlikely voters."
Then again, maybe Kilpatrick won because of Rosa Parks' passing. That is another bit of post-election wisdom making the rounds, along with the one that says he trumped Hendrix with the race card. Hendrix was labeled "the White Man's candidate" by some of Kilpatrick's more rabid supporters, and the Rev. Al Sharpton and Minister Louis Farrakhan came to town to lend Kilpatrick's campaign a hand. Isn't that, along with the now infamous lynching ad that appeared in this newspaper, proof enough that the race card was a major factor employed by the Kilpatrick campaign?OK, let's get one thing straight: The race card was dealt by both Kilpatrick and Hendrix supporters in one form or another. Just like Hendrix was viewed as "too White" by some Kilpatrick supporters who gleefully trotted out his mixed-race parentage and spat out "Helmut," his first name, as if it were a piece of rotted food stuck between their teeth, Kilpatrick was definitely seen as too doggoned Black by certain Hendrix folk. It's OK to have someone that Black slingin' rhymes on a stage, but God forbid they should become the city's most powerful elected official. What will people think?See the full content of this document
Extract
Kilpatrick Won ... Next Item?
The point is that Kilpatrick won. Period.
We can spend the next decade dissecting and debating the reasons for the mayor's remarkable come-from-behind victory last week - and we probably will - but the bottom line is that the man won the race. It's over. Even Freman Hendrix has put down the gloves - at least for now - and encouraged Detroiters to "get behind ...See the full content of this document
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