Despite the risk of sounding “holier than thou,” why each and every citizen of Detroit isn’t picketing City Hall right now is beyond me. If he loves his city and its people as much as he loves to say it, disgraced Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will resign. Immediately.

Tonight’s news that Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy will bring evidence of multiple affairs against Kilpatrick in support of her case that he lied under oath is hardly unexpected. After the Detroit Free Press’ publication of Kilpatrick’s damning text message transcripts, the mayor is “innocent until proven guilty” in legal courtesy only.

The messages speak for themselves. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is the disgraceful public face of an already deeply wounded city, and he must either resign or be removed. Either way, I suspect, he will be brought to justice in a proper court. But only one way can end the nightmare now. The Detroit City Council’s request that Gov. Jennifer Granholm intervene is tangled in bureaucracy and excruciating diplomacy; the same is true of the council’s own efforts to remove the embattled mayor.

Of course this says nothing of the fact that several members of the Detroit City Council are currently under F.B.I. investigation, and that several executive staffers have recently been caught on tape accepting money for what an elementary education could determine to be votes. In conclusion, the highest levels of Detroit city government are tainted, and one can only imagine how the situation has filtered on down the line.

An immediate resignation by Kilpatrick won’t stop the bleeding. That will come with time - probably years - after all the sludge seeps its way through the court system and, hopefully, into one of Michigan’s finest. The damage already wrought by the mayor and others is immense, but with time and a fresh start, will heal.

A surefire sign of the incompetence and treachery of the Kilpatrick era is the public’s growing numbness in response to the scandal of the day.

I don’t live in Detroit, and I can’t speak for its people. But I will say that in the few years I’ve been alive I’ve seen the people of Detroit rally and do some amazing things despite overwhelming circumstances. Now is just the time for the people of Detroit - and the people of Michigan, really - to stand up, rally, and let their voices be heard.

Kwame Kilpatrick must go.