Written By Robert L. Woodson, Sr

For decades, it was presumed that having blacks in positions of political leadership on the local, state and national levels would serve as a safeguard to preserve the victories of the civil rights movement and ensure that the people on whose behalf those battles had been fought could benefit from the new opportunities that those victories afforded. But in time, just the opposite has happened. In an era where race has begun to serve as both a shield (rebuffing legitimate criticism as evidence of racism) and a sword (attacking dissenting opinions as racist) many black officials have entered zones of comfort insulated from responsibility. In many cities, monopolies of opportunist leadership have reigned unchallenged for decades.

A case in point is that of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who, along with his cronies, was indicted on 38 charges, in what a federal prosecutor described as a “pattern of extortion, bribery and fraud” by some of Detroit’s most prominent officials. Charges in the indictment include extortion, mail and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, malicious threats to extort money, and bribery.

The accusations against.. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/24/black-on-black-crime-in-...