Kwame Kilpatrick seemed to have it all, Trevor W. Coleman writes in B.L.A.C. Detroit: intelligence, good looks and charisma.
Besides that, he came from an educated, progressive, socially-conscious and politically connected family. Although his parents, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and Bernard Kilpatrick, were divorced, they were very involved in his life, and groomed him for success.
He attended Cass Tech — the right high school — a highly respected historically black college and obtained a law degree. He moved into his mother's statehouse seat in Lansing. He was 31 when he was elected Detroit's mayor.
Yet Kilpatrick took advantage of the faith placed in him. It was a misplaced faith. In the end, while he didn't succumb to drug dealing, drug abuse, violent crime and misanthropic behavior that plagues Detroit like biblical locusts, he engaged in behavior just as nihilistic and arguably more damaging to its immediate future.
In fact, after his conviction and incarceration last month on 24 federal felony counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and racketeering, it's clear Kilpatrick acted like a gangster, pimping Detroit out of millions of dollars.
