Featured prominently in both the print and electronic media, Mathis has been the recipient of many awards and honors. Become a Member Sign up. Already a member? Contribute to our 20 Campaign. Education MegaMenu. Higher Education. Classroom Support. Mathis was estranged from his father. However, he still winded up joining a street gang called the Errol Flynns that his father was associated with. For those who are curious, the Errol Flynns were indeed named for the Hollywood star of so many swashbuckling movies, presumably because they put such an enormous emphasis on their appearance as well as their sense of style.
Something that made them very appealing to a lot of impoverished youth in the Detroit of the late s and s. The Errol Flynns no longer exist in the present time, having collapsed in the s thanks to the successful prosecution of some of their gang leaders combined with the overtaking of the heroin trade by the crack cocaine trade.
When Mathis was still a teenager, he was arrested on numerous occasions. As a result, he was in Wayne County Jail as a juvenile when his mother visited him with the bad news that she had been diagnosed with colon cancer. Fortunately for Mathis, he had a close family friend who was able to give him a helping hand, thus enabling him to get into Eastern Michigan University.
There, Mathis developed a keen interest in politics as well as the related field of public administration, as shown by how he started working for the Democratic Party. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that Mathis helped organize a number of demonstrations against South Africa, which was still maintaining the Apartheid system in those times. For a time, Mathis struggled to get his license to practice law.
However, he was successful in the end. Due to this, Mathis went on to be elected as a district court judge in , which was particularly notable because he was still very young by the standards of most judges at that point in time. One excellent example of this can be seen in how he continues to make a serious effort to help out people who are in prison , which is particularly important because prison recidivism rates are very high in the United States.
In a very real sense, Mathis is paying it forward through his efforts. After all, he himself was inspired to improve his life by a jail visit conducted by the Reverend Jesse Jackson, meaning that he is essentially doing for other people what Jackson did for him decades and decades ago. That might sound harsh, but considering the kind of cases that he has been handling year after year, his opinion on such matter is wholly unsurprising.
Speaking of which, Mathis sees his show in a very similar light to his other activities. Essentially, he believes that he can use his show to give the people who participate some guidance with their lives while also inspiring others to turn their lives around.
As for how long Mathis intends to continue with the show, the answer is that he will continue doing it as long as people continue watching it.
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