Detroit Election Ad Depicts Lynching

AP ^ | 10/30/05 | David Runk

[Clemenza]

DETROIT - A full-page newspaper advertisement depicting black corpses hanging from trees and likening media coverage of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to lynching has drawn criticism in the home stretch of his re-election campaign.

The mayor distanced himself from the ad, which was published this week in the city's largest black newspaper and echoes complaints he has made about media coverage.

"This advertisement is not affiliated in any way with the Kilpatrick administration or the Kilpatrick for Mayor campaign," Kilpatrick said in a statement. "Detroiters are very passionate people, and while I appreciate the spirit of some of the content, I do not condone the images in this advertisement."

The ad states it was paid for by Citizens for Honest Government, an independent political action committee. A message seeking comment from the committee was not returned Friday.

Mayoral challenger Freman Hendrix, deputy mayor under Kilpatrick's predecessor, criticized the ad.

"I think Detroiters are goodwilled," he said. "African-Americans in particular will look at this ad and reject it."

The ad, which appeared Wednesday in the Michigan Chronicle under the headline "Lynching is Still Legal in America," claims the media has targeted Kilpatrick and failed to examine Hendrix's tenure as deputy mayor. It also describes recent examples of racism in the Detroit area, including hate crimes in the mostly white suburbs.

Detroit is about 80 percent black, and both candidates for mayor are black. But race and the issue of how much the city should cooperate with the surrounding suburbs have come up repeatedly in the campaign.

Sam Logan, the newspaper's publisher, said he wasn't aware of the ad until after it appeared in print, and that the paper "does not condone" the images.

The co-publisher of The Michigan Citizen, another community newspaper that ran a similar ad, defended it, saying it highlighted issues that need to be examined.

"I have not got one call from a subscriber or a reader who complained about that ad," Catherine Kelly said. "Not one letter or e-mail."

Kilpatrick has implied that the media is out to get him with scrutiny over his use of a city credit card on out-of-town travel and a city lease of a luxury sport utility vehicle for his family. In May, his father apologized after comparing the media's treatment of his son to Nazi propaganda.

Hendrix, 55, has been leading Kilpatrick, 35, in polls ahead of the Nov. 8 general election.

[jmaroneps37]

"When rats eat their own!"
Film at eleven!

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

This is too idiotic even for that race hustling, demagogic tool.

Maybe Sonny Bakewell will substitute for His Fatness.

[apackof2]

Detroit went to hell.

Don't forget with the help of Coleman Young

[ncountylee]

STRESS: Stop Robberies and Enjoy Safe Streets.

I was in Grosse Point then and remember the great shoot out. STRESS 12 Sheriffs 0.

[stage left]

Can't post 10/29 "Lynching" article from The Detroit News containing link to ad.

Citizens for Honest Government. PAC formed in April, headed by Robert J. Miller Jr. of Grosse Pointe Park.

[Republic of Texas]

Don't worry. Some blacks are blacker than others.

[Tokra]

Before and after "White Flight" photos of Detroit's:
Fort-Shelby Hotel Ballroom
Madison Theater
Michigan Central Station

Detroit is still a beautiful city - but the City administrations over the past 25 years should be criminally prosecuted for the cold-blooded murder of a great American City. The black racists claim it's because white people "abandonded" the city. Okay - so why have the black residents who have replaced them allowed this decay to happen. Ask them and they'll tell you "Racism". Ask me and I'll tell you "Ignorance" and a bit of "I hate Whitey and all his works"

[Clemenza]

Say what you will about them, but "third world immigrants" are what kept NY's outer boroughs from turning into a replica of Detroit (LEGAL, CONTROLLED immigration is good in that sense).

Detroit should be turned into a National Park, so that tourists could visit the ruins of a once great city. It would be our version of the Parthenon or the Colleseum.