Those gathered to honor the life and legacy of former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick remembered the Detroit Democrat as a trailblazer and the strong leader of her family during a service Wednesday, Oct. 22 at Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ, on the city’s west side.
Cheeks Kilpatrick died at 80 years old on Oct. 7. The daughter of a father who worked as an autoworker and handyman and a mother who worked as a beautician, Cheeks Kilpatrick was a Detroit public schools teacher for almost a decade before entering politics. Her career in public office included service in the Michigan House of Representatives, from 1979-1996, and then the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1997-2011. In Washington, D.C., she also served on the Appropriations Committee and chaired the Congressional Black Caucus.
Marsha Cheeks — Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick’s younger sister — recalled her sister’s early interest in politics with her run for school president of Detroit High School of Commerce, which was initially unsuccessful until their mother’s intervention with a visit to the school. Marsha Cheeks went on to follow in the footsteps of Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, including to the Michigan House, where she also served as a representative from 2003-2008. Family, Marsha Cheeks said, serves as the foundation of communities.
“I thank God for my big sister,” she said.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan called Cheeks Kilpatrick “one of a kind,” who made history as the first Black woman to sit on the Michigan House’s Appropriations Committee and was elected to Congress at a time when female representation in elected office wasn’t as strong as it is today. Duggan remembered her as a serious and studious politician who didn’t start meetings with small talk about the Detroit Tigers or Lions but who, instead, wanted to immediately start the agenda.
“Carolyn was a Michigan original,” said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in prerecorded video remarks. She lauded the public dollars that Cheeks Kilpatrick brought to her home city during her time in office. Wayne County Executive Warren Evans said Cheeks Kilpatrick helmed her family as its “strong matriarch” and told those family members present, “Your dynasty will not be forgotten.”
Cheeks Kilpatrick’s service brought together other notable Michigan figures, including Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and Democratic U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Shri Thanedar, who together currently represent the city of Detroit in Congress today.
Her son, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, began his eulogy in song, “My hallelujah belongs to you.” The mourners joined him. He spoke after a slew of speeches focused on her political accomplishments. “But I want to talk about her as mama of this crazy kid named Kwame,” he said. He described her as a fierce disciplinarian who cared deeply about his education and tried to keep him in line as a young troublemaker. Kwame Kilpatrick said that when he arrived in Lansing as a young state lawmaker, he learned a different side of his mother: a woman with deep policy chops who knew how to negotiate.
He went on to share stories from her regular visits when he was behind bars and about how the two began a Bible study routine. The congresswoman who brought home dollars for her district and met with powerful figures from around the world “got on her knees in a prison visiting room and she received the Lord Jesus Christ as her lord and savior,” he said.
“You were the best mom ever,” he said.
Her time in elected office came to an end after Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to charges in his perjury case and resigned from office. Corruption charges landed him in prison after his mother left Congress. Her ex-husband, Bernard Kilpatrick, with whom she had two children — Ayanna and Kwame — would later serve time as part of the public corruption case that sent his son to jail.
A caption next to a large photo displayed at the front of the church called Cheeks Kilpatrick “A Servant, Mother, Grandma, Sister, Friend, Mentor and One of God’s best!” Several flower arrangements surrounded her casket. Among them stood a tribute from her grandchildren: a mannequin donning a tan blazer and pencil skirt, with flowers pouring across the body and a turquoise sash that read, “we love you grandma.”
Cheeks Kilpatrick’s grandson, Amir Kilpatrick, joked that she was not the type of grandmother who cooked for her grandchildren — but strengthened his faith and he saw her as a “a fighter” and the family’s leader. “It was this little woman who taught these big men to be everything,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke, a Democrat from New York and the current chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, described the professional support she received from Cheeks Kilpatrick, who chaired the caucus when Clarke said she was the only Black woman elected her first year in Congress. “And that sister grabbed me up right away,” she said.
From the pews, those gathered joined musicians, clapping and raising their hands in the air to begin the service.
Following the processional of Cheeks Kilpatrick’s family, Presiding Bishop J. Drew Sheard described their grief as the community’s too. “This family has suffered a great loss. We have suffered a great loss,” he said.
Free Press staff writer Todd Spangler and Free Press photographer Mandi Wright contributed to this report
Contact Clara Hendrickson: chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Former Congresswoman Cheeks Kilpatrick remembered as strong family and political leader
Reporting by Clara Hendrickson, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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