Black Mayors-What is Up?

[Brian McCoy]

Remember crack smoking mayor of Washington D.C. Marion Berry of the 1980s? Not only was his fall one that embarrased the city, but it also presented a negative image of all Black politicians in America. Berry was caught on tape smoking crack cocaine with a prostitute in a sleezy hotel room in 1989. It must much fodder for late night talk show hosts Arsenio Hall and Keenan Ivory Wayans' In Living Color. Something about his story is that he later ran for Mayor of D.C. again and won the election.


Kwame Kilpatrick, the media proclaimed 'hip-hop mayor,' that served a 99 day sentence in 2009 for a scandal in which he, along with his Chief-of-Staff and mistress, Christine Beatty, were convicted of in 2008 of perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice for lying during another trial about their sexual relationship to a jury.



Today, Baltimore, Marland's black mayor Sheila Dixon is facing "two felony counts for allegedly stealing gift cards donated by charities and corporations to assist the poor, and perjury for not reporting gifts she received from a city developer," as reported by BET News.

Then, the mayor of the city of Birmingham, Alabama is on trial for his

Many things can be pointed out by all of these convictions. Civil rights organizations, as well as liberals and other critics say that these cases are all racially motivated. From looking at these cases from a more conservative one-sided view, you may say that these cases have no connection to race. "You do the crime, you do the time." Yes, anyone passing their administrations as one that will help their "community" should be convicted if they break the oath of being a person of honor and integrity that will "bring people out of poverty and into jobs." Yes, many of the charges are true but can these cases be connected to the right-winged conspiracy that plagues morning talk radio?


There are now questions of a possible Republican takeover of city government in Baltimore if Mayor Dixon is removed from office. The NAACP raised these concerns once they organization reviewed state legislation that could allow the Republican governor to appoint someone to the mayor's seat if vacated.