The 'Unscripted' Part Of Kilpatrick's Address
POSTED: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
UPDATED: 9:54 pm EDT March 11,
2008
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick strayed from the prepared portion of his State of the City address Tuesday night and ended with the following words:And finally, and this may be the most talked-about part of this speech after laying out all of that, but I feel that I cannot leave this auditorium with my wife and my sons sitting there without addressing this issue.
In the past 30 days Ive been called a nigger more than anytime in my entire life. In the past three days I've received more death threats than I have in my entire administration.
I've heard these words before but I've never heard people say them about my wife and children.
I have to say this because it's very personal to me. I don't believe that a Nielsen rating is worth the life of my children or your children.
This unethical, illegal lynch mob mentality has to stop.
And it's seriously time. We've never been here before. And I don't care if they cut the TV off.
We've never been in a situation like this before. Where you can say anything, do anything, have no facts, no research, no nothing and you can launch a hate-driven bigoted assault on a family.
I humbly ask members of council, I humbly ask the business community, I humbly ask the religious community, I humbly ask the brothers and sisters of the city of Detroit - I humbly ask that we say 'no more' together.
I humbly ask that we say no more together. I love this city with every part of my being. I will continue to stay focused on building the next Detroit.
God Bless you, Detroit. I love you.
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