Judge Greg Mathis: Crowd Reaction

I went to my second Black History Month event this evening. I had a front row seat to listen to Judge Greg Mathis in an auditorium of about 800 people. Out of those eight hundred, probably about 700 were African Americans.

Judge Greg Mathis is a remarkable story. He grew up in downtown Detroit and was caught up in gang violence. At a young age, he was arrested and found guilty for a weapons charge I believe. The judge in his case, instead of locking up a 17-year old Greg Mathis, ordered him to get a G.E.D.

Greg Mathis finished his G.E.D., and went on to college where he began as an engineering student. He switched majors after figuring out that his strengths were in reading and writing, and went on to law school. He was later elected as a judge in Detroit. Talk about a 360! Remarkable.

Naturally Judge Mathis's life had many challenges along the way, and he talked to the audience about how to face challenges and persevere. His primary point was the importance of education. He chided America as a country for not placing more importance on education and pointed out how earlier today in USA Today it was reported that the U.S. ranks as 39th out of the industrialized countries of the world in science and math education. Which, if you think about it, if blacks and hispanics on average are receiving a worse education than whites, then where would just the blacks and hispanics in the U.S. rank in the industrialized world?

I also liked how Judge Mathis pointed out that white people are not the enemy. After all, it was a white judge who ordered Mathis to get a G.E.D., essentially giving him a second chance in life. Furthermore, whites were strongly involved in the establishment of the NAACP and other movements.

The two main threats that Judge Mathis pointed out to blacks today were the negative aspects of the hip hop culture, and blacks hating blacks. Mathis pointed out how youth today called each other the n-word and "dawg" and referred to women as hoes...clearly signs of disrespecting each other. And if they are willing to disrespect each other, then how can they expect others in the world to respect them. I agree with this point to a large extent. Although we do have to point out the positives of the hip hop culture, it is true that the negative baggage that comes with it is a real threat to young black men and women.

Judge Mathis then pointed to the problem of white supremacy brought on by blacks. For example, a black person driving on the street saying "I'm not taking my car to that black mechanic; he ain't touching my car," or going to a Jewish lawyer instead of a black one, etc. The entire crowd stood and gave an electrifying applause and boisterous laughter to the last comment. In fact, as Judge Mathis continued on his point regarding the problems within black America, he was greeted with much laughter and agreeing "yeahs" throughout the auditorium. I almost felt like the crowd may have been watching a comedian.

This was very disturbing to me. You see, Judge Mathis was accurately and clearly pointing out the problems that exist within the African American community in the United States. He was painting a somewhat bleak picture when it comes to the negatives (although he was balancing his speech with plenty of positives as well). None of what he said was humorous to me. And I don't think he was trying to be funny. I don't think the resounding agreement amongst the crowd was a good reaction. I think a better reaction would have been of shame and a desire to search for answers--for both blacks and non-blacks. For me, the reaction was not "yeah!" but the evening left me a more subdued "wow, how can I help education for blacks and latinos because clearly there is a problem."