Kwame Kenyatta calls for insurrection/revolt against EFM

**Lowell** · March-13-13, 04:26 PM

There is nothing in that article that says ARMED insurrection. One might try to gather that from what was said, but there is nothing that directly calls for arming or violence.

However as to...

“You are going to have to drag me out of here for me to leave."

WHATEVER

Maybe y'all will get the National Guard, that is frequently mentioned on the board, after all.

**rondinjp** · March-13-13, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by Lowell

There is nothing in that article that says ARMED insurrection. One might try to gather that from what was said, but there is nothing that directly calls for arming or violence.

However as to...

WHATEVER

Maybe y'all will get the National Guard, that is frequently mentioned on the board, after all.

The quote "Even the Bloods in the hood fight for their territory" does seem to indicate that he is inciting the use of violence [[e.g., armed violence).

**cla1945** · March-13-13, 04:30 PM

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to hear the underlying tone of Kenyattas rant.

Kenyatta is doing the equivalent of yelling "fire" in a movie theater. He is doing his best to incite a riot. Detroiters are already living in a war zone so there is nothing new with the threats of violence. Who is it going to be aimed at is the question and I say... themselves, because they will burn down their own neighborhoods, their stores, barber shops, churches, and do whatever they can to make Snyder back down. Snyder won't back down and Kenyatta and Watson are liable to have their asses thrown out of City hall for good if they are not careful.

Intelligent people want to come in to Detroit and help get it back on it's feet, but the racist clowncil insists that it's whitey coming to steal their "jewels"; it's whitey taking their voting rights away. They haven't been able to solve their problems for years, so what makes them think they can do it now?

The idiotic mentality of people like Watson, Kenyatta, and others amazes me.

**Lowell** · March-13-13, 04:35 PM

In an interview with WDET, on right now, he clearly backs away from any talk of armed resistance or violence. He is clearly talking about obstructive actions but he is very careful not to mention anything about arming or violence. I think he smart enough to know better than that.

**detroitsgwenivere** · March-13-13, 04:59 PM

I agree with Lowell. Kenyatta may be an Afro-centrist, but he's no tiara wearin a-hole. He's actually been the calmest voice of reason during several out of hand discussions involving thrown insults and "onward Christian soldiers.." He genuinely cares about the community, and here in Corktown, had a representative at almost every single Resident's Council meeting we had. I don't agree with all of his politics, but I'm not about to jump on the "burn him at the stake" bandwagon just because it's easy to put incendiary words in the guys mouth.

**EastsideAl** · March-13-13, 06:10 PM

Originally Posted by detroitsgwenivere

I agree with Lowell. Kenyatta may be an Afro-centrist, but he's no tiara wearin a-hole. He's actually been the calmest voice of reason during several out of hand discussions involving thrown insults and "onward Christian soldiers.." He genuinely cares about the community, and here in Corktown, had a representative at almost every single Resident's Council meeting we had. I don't agree with all of his politics, but I'm not about to jump on the "burn him at the stake" bandwagon just because it's easy to put incendiary words in the guys mouth.

I agree. While I disagree with him on many things, Kenyatta has often been a voice of some reason on a City Council that has had almost none of them, and has generally shown himself to be intelligent and actually caring at some level about city residents. Like Gwenivere said, he's been one of the very few Councilmembers to actually involve himself in local affairs and support local efforts over here on the east side. He has attended meetings or sent representatives to do so, and mostly made positive contributions. And over here even the better neighborhoods are pretty much completely ignored by the Council.

Having said that though, his reported statements, even if they don't rise to the level of calling for armed insurrection, seem irresponsible and needlessly incendiary. I don't think even for a second that he should be punished for speaking, but I do hope he is backing off of those words, because it was a pretty damn stupid thing to say. While I understand the emotional reaction, uneasiness, and fear brought on by the takeover from Lansing, it seems unavoidable at this point. I don't think it serves anyone's interests now to start whipping things up further and bringing up even hints of that kind of trouble. We need to fight to move forward now, and not keep bogging down in this kind of mud.

**detroitsgwenivere** · March-13-13, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

Directly quoting someone is not putting words in their mouth.

Really? I didn't read anything quoted from the guy sating that he planned to lead some armed rebellion or burn the city down. All I heard was him make some ponderous juxtaposition regarding gang politics and canned foods. Noting the controversial nature of the EFM, and the old school civil rights culture that these older cats come from, how is anyone surprised at the language that is being thrown around?

**Honky Tonk** · March-13-13, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by detroitsgwenivere

Really? I didn't read anything quoted from the guy sating that he planned to lead some armed rebellion or burn the city down. All I heard was him make some ponderous juxtaposition regarding gang politics and canned foods. Noting the controversial nature of the EFM, and the old school civil rights culture that these older cats come from, how is anyone surprised at the language that is being thrown around?

Well, I am surprised. I don't appreciate it. The nature of an EFM might be controversial, but to call for people to stock up on canned goods and warning people of an impending revolt? Just what the hell does he think an EFM is going to do? Comparing the residents of Detroit to a street gang fighting for their turf? That IS incendiary, riot provoking language. Sugar coating what he said and did doesn't help. He's a jackass.

**lpg** · March-13-13, 06:42 PM

Whipping up emotions on such a charged issue is really dumb. How much encouragement would some street hoods need to really start something violent. And if we learned anything from 1967, things can spiral out of control in a heartbeat. Then what do you say ? Oh, I really didn't mean it that way?

**JBMcB** · March-13-13, 06:45 PM

“You are going to have to drag me out of here for me to leave."

I don't think the city council needs to be physically evicted from city hall to be ignored by the EFM.

**Hermod** · March-13-13, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by JBMcB

“You are going to have to drag me out of here for me to leave."

I don't think the city council needs to be physically evicted from city hall to be ignored by the EFM.

Let them sit in City hall all they want. It is just that their staffs will lose their pay, their city cars will be taken away, and their grubby hands won't get anywhere near the city check book.

**Detroitnerd** · March-13-13, 07:48 PM

Originally Posted by Hermod

Let them sit in City hall all they want. It is just that their staffs will lose their pay, their city cars will be taken away, and their grubby hands won't get anywhere near the city check book.

Gee, I don't see why anybody would impute any racial basis to all this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4v_yRFf4-Y

**detroitsgwenivere** · March-13-13, 07:04 PM

I don't think I'm sugar coating his words, I'm just defending the man's character. He's not a bad man, or a useless man, he's a good man. He walks the walk, and doesn't just pander, and I respect that about him. The guy's not perfect, he occasionally says things to the press that aren't going to help the situation. I agree. But I think it's unfair to judge Mr. Kenyatta based some dumb emotional thing he said under duress, over the useful constituent services the man has provided during his time in office. Unlike some people that got elected because they had name recognition and haven't done shit since they got there BUT run their mouth. That's all I'm sayin.

**rb336** · March-13-13, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by detroitsgwenivere

I agree. But I think it's unfair to judge Mr. Kenyatta based some dumb emotional thing he said under duress, over the useful constituent services the man has provided during his time in office. Unlike some people that got elected because they had name recognition and haven't done shit since they got there BUT run their mouth. That's all I'm sayin.

There have been times that he sounded like the voice of reason on the council, but that's not saying much. I can't think, offhand, of anything he did that was particularly helpful for the city. He was damn obstructionist when it came to the consent agreement [[remember the "pulling your pants down without Vaseline" comment?) but I don't recall him offering any viable alternative - or any alternative at all. This just fits that paradigm, only even more destructively.

**Gistok** · March-13-13, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by rb336

There have been times that he sounded like the voice of reason on the council, but that's not saying much. I can't think, offhand, of anything he did that was particularly helpful for the city. He was damn obstructionist when it came to the consent agreement [[remember the "pulling your pants down without Vaseline" comment?) but I don't recall him offering any viable alternative - or any alternative at all. This just fits that paradigm, only even more destructively.

I have to agree... he has been the voice of reason at times... he was one of the first to call for Kilpatrick to step down... but unfortunately he also was an obstructionist that stopped the Belle Isle transfer to the state dead in its' tracks... even after 8 months of discussions... so he's had a checkered history...

**Honky Tonk** · March-13-13, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

I have to agree... he has been the voice of reason at times... he was one of the first to call for Kilpatrick to step down... but unfortunately he also was an obstructionist that stopped the Belle Isle transfer to the state dead in its' tracks... even after 8 months of discussions... so he's had a checkered history...

Instead of voting to let Belle Isle be run by the DNR, a $6 mil a year savings for the COD, he instead offered a "waterpark" proposal by the former Bob-Lo owners, that would create "thousands of jobs", and give the COD $1 mil a year. A loss of $5 mil yearly. As he put it, [[out of context), $6 mil a year isn't going to make or break the City Budget. Shrewd businessman that one is. The good part is he only lost one home, and not two like the Council President.

**Det_ard** · March-13-13, 09:37 PM

Originally Posted by detroitsgwenivere

I don't think I'm sugar coating his words, I'm just defending the man's character. He's not a bad man, or a useless man, he's a good man. He walks the walk, and doesn't just pander, and I respect that about him. The guy's not perfect, he occasionally says things to the press that aren't going to help the situation. I agree. But I think it's unfair to judge Mr. Kenyatta based some dumb emotional thing he said under duress, over the useful constituent services the man has provided during his time in office. Unlike some people that got elected because they had name recognition and haven't done shit since they got there BUT run their mouth. That's all I'm sayin.

While I agree that he's not among the worst on council, and that he has on occasion made sense, that merely makes him among the taller midgets in council chambers.

The phrase "the soft bigotry of low expectations" comes to mind, and its possible for blacks to possess those low expectations of other blacks just as it is for whites to expect less of blacks than of whites.

It isn't too much to ask for a councilperson to be both constituent-oriented and circumspect in their utterances. Detroiters can hope for excellence, not just settle for mediocrity.

GUSHI · March-13-13, 07:05 PM

The difference between 67 and now a lot less people, a lot less stores to burn and a lot less whites, so if a riot starts please start by burning down empty damaged homes, Thankyou , a lot of homes on the Eastside,

**aj3647** · March-13-13, 08:19 PM

Stocking up on canned goods and supplies? What exactly does he think is going to happen? Some sort of Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic dystopian Detroit?

This is no better than the Glenn Beck "stock up on guns and gold for the upcoming Obama-pocalypse" fear mongering.

The danger here is that, just like with Glenn Beck inspiring the Oakland freeway shooter, these words have the ability to incite mentally-unbalanced or extremist individuals to commit violence. Even if Kenyatta isn't directly advocating violence, his words are close enough and it can be reasonably implied from his words.

**aj3647** · March-13-13, 09:30 PM

“I won’t give up my right to vote. We are going to shut down freeways and we are going to disrupt the economic system.”

How does ruining Detroit's economy punish anyone in Lansing?

What a great idea. Destroy what little economic activity remains. Punish people who are trying to go to work IN Detroit. Make life harder for the people who live IN the city. That'll show those fat cats in Lansing!

**313WX** · March-13-13, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by aj3647

How does ruining Detroit's economy punish anyone in Lansing?

What a great idea. Destroy what little economic activity remains. Punish people who are trying to go to work IN Detroit. Make life harder for the people who live IN the city. That'll show those fat cats in Lansing!

To be fair, I'm sure majority of the folks commuting that morning on I-94 were from MAcomb County and Grosse Pointe and really can't control the fact that their job is in Detroit.

**Hermod** · March-14-13, 05:16 AM

Originally Posted by 313WX

To be fair, I'm sure majority of the folks commuting that morning on I-94 were from MAcomb County and Grosse Pointe and really can't control the fact that their job is in Detroit.

They do have some control. Think of all of the bleating that goes on in here about people wanting to work in a "vibrant downtown" so that employers are "forced" to move into the inner city from the suburbs so that they can get and keep employees. If the downtown [[AND the commute) are not considered secure, the employees will through both positive and negative pressure force the company to relocate away from a "undesirable downtown".

While the employer may be in love with his skyscraper in the city, he may be force to relocate to a suburban office campus to get and keep the kind of employees he needs.

**313WX** · March-14-13, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

They do have some control. Think of all of the bleating that goes on in here about people wanting to work in a "vibrant downtown" so that employers are "forced" to move into the inner city from the suburbs so that they can get and keep employees. If the downtown [[AND the commute) are not considered secure, the employees will through both positive and negative pressure force the company to relocate away from a "undesirable downtown".

While the employer may be in love with his skyscraper in the city, he may be force to relocate to a suburban office campus to get and keep the kind of employees he needs.

I doubt employers are too worried about losing talent, given the absolute glut of unemployed people in Michigan they can replace them with, and likewise I doubt employees would quit a good job despite it locating in Detroit given the lack of good jobs available elsewhere.

Besides, Campbell Ewald is likely proving your theory wrong.

In any event, my comment was sorta/kinda tongue-in-cheek.

**Detroitnerd** · March-14-13, 10:57 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

While the employer may be in love with his skyscraper in the city, he may be force to relocate to a suburban office campus to get and keep the kind of employees he needs.

But, Hermod, I thought you believed that people go where the jobs are, regardless of whether it's downtown or suburbia!

**jackie5275** · March-14-13, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by 313WX

To be fair, I'm sure majority of the folks commuting that morning on I-94 were from MAcomb County and Grosse Pointe and really can't control the fact that their job is in Detroit.

Actually, it was on EAST BOUND I-94, so those of us coming in from the west were affected. We were affected again today.