Be Wary Of Who Wants To Decide Your Future

There is a lesson to be learned from the Kwame Kilpatrick fiasco. That lesson is simple and very distinct. For starters, the almost nine month saga should have been a wake up call for every registered voter in Detroit, Michigan, i.e., value the power that you have that has given you the right to vote. That right is yours and yours only. There should not be a single entity that should be able to dictate to you how you should vote.

Over the next fourteen months, the electorate in Detroit may have the opportunity to select a mayor in two different general elections. In addition to that, there is the possibility that there could be four different people to serve in the role of mayor in an eighteen month period. This is not an ideal situation, but this is what happens when you have a former selfish mayor that just did not know that his time was up many, many months ago.

What the citizens are now left with is that there will be plenty of people coming forward thinking that their time is now. Being that we live in a democratic society, any and everyone has the right to seek the office and I have no problem with that. What would bother me is that there will be plenty of folk out there trying to dictate who is best to run the city. This is where the need to be wary of letting others decide your future for you comes into play.

It is not the responsibility of the business community, churches, community folk that call themselves leaders, or the media to say what is right for Detroit. If there was ever a time for “due diligence” to show its face in Detroit, that time is now. The citizens and electorate must decide for themselves what it is that they want in a leader and come together to make a learned and righteous decision. Neither is this the time for business leaders to say what is best for the residents in Detroit. For those same business leaders are not the ones that vote or live in Detroit and we all see what type of shape their most recent choice has left the city in.

There is a certain individual whose name is being bandied about as your “saviour” and has the support of that same business community. Please, be wary of that person based on the support that he is garnering. I have nothing whatsoever against that person, but because he came out as the rebel that called for the resignation of Kwame Kilpatrick while his peers stood on the sidelines and watched does not mean that he should be anointed to the position of mayor. Now had those same business leaders came out in support of him at the same time he spoke up, that would make their support of him to become your next mayor more credible. Just because one has a business in the city does not make him mayoral. Be wary of where he currently reside and why does he now find it necessary to move to Detroit.

People, only you can decide your future and no one else. Show your suburban neighbors, as well as the rest of this state that you are capable of getting it right without any outside influences. Also show that during this trying time in your city’s history, the healing that is necessary will allow you to come together as one. And that you will go to the polls in mass, based on whomever decides to throw their hat into the ring, has proven to you that they have earned your vote. Show the candidates that regardless of their name and ties to outside entities, that you will not allow your future to be decided by anyone but “YOU”.