Hast thou considered my servant Kwame?

Ex-Mayor of Detroit, Kwame M. Kilpatrick, (2nd from left) with his resilient support system.

Wife,Carlita Kilpatrick at left, the Kilpatrick's Detroit pastor, Bishop J. Drew Sheard

and Bernard Kilpatrick, father of the

embattled former city CEO.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? - Job 1:8 King James Version

For his first time in over two years, former Detroit mayor, Kwame Malik Kilpatrick allowed himself to be interviewed by radio news. Western Michigan's 103.7 is the first to boast an interview with the former Mayor since his woes in office, and eventual departure from public office, and ultimately, his exodus from the city he so passionately expresses love and concern for. Kilpatrick now resides in Dallas, TX with his wife Carlita and their three sons, Jalil, Jelani (twins) and Jonas.

In 2001, Kwame Kilpatrick became the youngest elected mayor in Detroit's 300+ year history, and this city third African American leader. Kilpatrick was presented himself to be a fresh blooded, passionate, charismatic and innovative native Detroit, which probably was his key to victory. He was elected to two terms as the city's HNIC, having almost served his second term in full, before his forced resignation, focused around illegalities and scandal around his name and administration.

I was once told by an associate of mine that I should not speak my opinions about the city or it's mayor, because I had moved away from the city and no longer should be concerned about the happenings there. I could not disagree with this friend more. Detroit will always be my home. Yes, I moved away over five years ago, but Detroit is a place that I care a lot about, and one day, soon hopefully,I would like to once again reside within the city that I love so very much. Furthermore, the Kilpatrick administration will always be a point of interest for me. From the moment he hit the Detroit political scene, Kwame Kilpatrick has left an indelible mark upon my mind. He impressed me from day one of his mayoral campaign. I was so impressed that in the summer of 2001, I dedicated much of my free time to volunteering at his campaign headquarters in downtown Detroit to ensure that this charismatic young politician seized the top seat of Detroit's political machine. Yes, that's right, the summer of 2001, before I could even exercise my right to vote, I was encouraging others to vote for this man. Even after his election to office, I still had a vested interest in his reign as mayor. During my first year of college, at Detroit's Wayne State University as a journalism major, I was privileged to land an apprenticeship at the Detroit Free Press (Detroit largest newspaper), where I shadowed city politics reporter, ML Elrick, who followed and reported Kilpatrick's every move, good & bad. So to say that I was now devoid of an opinion is far from what I think is correct.

Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. Let me rewind here and talk about Job. Job is one of the most well-known biblical figures from the Old Testament. Job was described,by God himself, as a man who was perfect and upright and fled from evil doings. Job was a man of great spiritual and material substance and his life of integrity had granted him with some of life's most prized possessions. He had a lovely family, much land and cattle. One could assume Job has a lot of money. He also possessed great wisdom and enjoyed communion with his God. Satan, (the enemy, the Devil, the Evil One) one day consulted with God to harm all of Job's possessions, as a test to see how faithful Job really was in his concord with the God he served so faithfully. God gave Satan the permission to do just that, but Satan was not allowed to harm Job directly. Everything around Job began to fall apart. His health began to fail him. His land was soon taken. His 10 children eventually die. The Bible is unclear as to what happens to Job's wife. Some Bible assume she dies, but it is certainly clear that Job's nameless spouse became disgruntled at the losses she and her spouse experienced and became not supportive to Job. (Chapter two, verse nine of the book of Job records Mrs. Job as admonishing her husband to "curse God and die.")

Amidst all that Job was experiencing in his life, Job never allowed himself to lose trust in God. He was that confident in his Creator that he did not lose or compromise his integrity. It is safe to say that all of Job's "afflictions" were not strong or devastating enough for Job to waver in his devotion to God and his reputation and integrity before mankind. Job's problem were not based upon his own personal greed, dishonesty and evil doings. Job's problems were not self-inflicted, for the were brought on him, beyond his control and by no consequence of actions taken by him.

Ok, Now back to Kwame. Tuesday, February 16, 2010, Kwame gives his first phone interview. In the interview, stuttering, Kwame heralds himself as a child of God & claims great love for his God, his wife & his sons. He compares himself to Job and in the same breath, Kwame quotes a voice from the Bible, saying "It is good that I've been afflicted."

Sounds good in concept, but I had to take a step back. First of all, on what grounds does the ex-Mayor feel it is okay to compare himself to Job. From his second year of his first time, scandal reeked from the Kilpatrick camp. Wild gentleman's parties at the city-owned Manoogian Mansion (the official residence of Detroit's sitting mayor) involving strippers and assault on stripper, an extra-marital affair with Kwame's Chief of Staff (substantiated with hundreds of text messages between the mayor and the cheif of staff recorded on city-issued cellphones), demotion of mayoral security detail that spoke up about the scandals and malevolence, lying under oath and millions of Detroit dollars improperly used by Kilpatrick and staffers. To say that he is a modern day Job would be a mockery to the Holy scripture, an insult to Job and a smack in the very face of God himself. After almost seemingly endless trials and hearing, Kwame eventually pleads guilty, resigns as Detroit's mayor and serves several months behind bars. He later relocates to Dallas, TX. His wrong doings eventually cost the city in excess of $6M and Kilpatrick enters agreement to repay the city, which he is yet having trouble doing.

Like I said, Kwame quoted Job, or so he thought. When Kwame said he was like Job, he went on to quote the man, but he actually quoted the WRONG Old Testament figure. It actually David who said, "It was good for me that I had been afflicted." (Pslams 119:71) So in other words, Mr Kilpatrick, you're actually saying you're not like Job at all, and I couldn't agree with you more.

I'm not going to go deep into Davd's history, but of his many attributes, possibly the greatest of these, David was marked in the Bible as a man after God's own heart. David's accomplishments, however, did not come without fault. The Peeping Tom glanced upon a naked woman bathing, was determined to sleep with her, and did just that. To make matter's worse, he had the woman's husband killed to cover his wrong doing, and fathered a child by the woman. Even among his evil doings, David ascened from being a mere shepherd boy, to being a warrior (giant killer), to muscian/poet (he is credited with penning much of the book of Psalsm) and ultmitately reigning as the second king of Israel.

Now if Kwame had've compared himself with David, rather than Job, I probably would have let the biblical comparison slide, but clearly he hadn't rehearsed his lines for the interview as well as he intended.

In the interview, Kwame also submitted that his political days were more or less over and done (oh really?!), but he does feel strongly that his God-given purpose in life was service to others. Now as someone who has been in church all my life, whose spiritual roots date back four generations in Pentecostal Christianity, the first thing that popped in my head, "Oh so, Kwame is going to try his hand at ministry now." I do feel that all have a chance for redemption and God can use us all, but I pray earnestly that this isn't a haphazard move as a way to regain public trust and credibility. Please Kwame,take your time, if this is in fact a "career" move that you're considering and ensure that this is what God desires for you to do with your life now. I encourage you to surround yourself with integrous men and women of God who can guide you in the direction you need. I encourage you to educate yourself in this area of spirituality, but clearly we see education is not the ultimate answer. If education would have caused you success in the mayor's office, you undoubtedly would have celebrated success as Detroit's youngest mayor.

But it is no strange phenomenon, especially in the Black community, for ex-convicts to develop a spiritual side after doing "hard time," I just hope this one is sincere and successful.