In Black America; Season 19 of the Judge Mathis Show

From the University of Texas at Austin, KUT Radio, this is in Black America. The studio is tearing up the airways with this guy want to be a judge. And so I said if they were to play my backstory as an introduction to the show, which would once again give some inspiration to others, I said I'd be glad to do it. Folks think that many people leave to go to television because of money, well in fact my first contract wasn't very much more than what I made on the bench in Detroit. The honorable Greg Mathins form a superior court judge for Michigan 36 District and hopes of the long winning Judge Mathins show. Judge Mathins has made a name for himself and an out-of-the-court room. He was the youngest judge in Michigan history in Michigan 36 District Court.

He was known as the judge of second chances. Outside of the court room, Judge Mathins believes in giving back. In his hometown, Detroit, he opened the Mathins Community Center to assist young adults with placement and jobs and small business startups. As Judge Mathins began his 19 season on television this September, in Black America spoke with him regarding this upcoming season. Well, I think it's my ability to relate and speak the language of those who come before me and those who are watching. You know, I try and identify with and I can have the experience to identify with pretty much every litigant that comes before me because I have in some way some similar background. Whether it's a street youth, I've been that, whether it's a parent, I am that, whether it's college educated, I'm that. And so I can move back and forth in terms of relating to people and I guess a little comedy that didn't hurt.

So I think that's the relatability factor. In the last several years, probably over a decade, we've assisted people who come before me with drug and alcohol problems. We've assisted them in being placed wherever they live in their in rehab institutions and so many of them come back or write us and thank us because of the success they've had in transforming their lives. So we've done that for many years and last year we decided we'd embark upon trying to help families in particular. We know that African American households over half without a father in the household and so we try and work to put fathers in particular in touch with their children, even if they're separated or divorced from the mother. We try and get them involved in the lives and many of the cases it is that there's a dispute over either money, hearing style and meaning custody issues.

And then there's the issue of paternity. Maternity tests cost nearly a thousand dollars if you want to get an accurate one. And so we know that that prohibits a lot of men and families from establishing themselves. So we provide that and we'll continue to do more of that. That's the long story long. We're going to continue and accelerate our ability to help families at this point. We're going to continue to help those dealing with drug and alcohol problems as well, but now we're going to shift a lot of focus over the families, particularly men as good fathers. I was going to add, that was my next question. Why is it important to you as a father, but also as an African American man to address the importance of men of being men and being in lines with their children. Well, I know firsthand from having been a troubled youth and watching throughout the projects, I guess that statistics certainly apply where I grew up in 100 gardens, where over half of the households did not have fathers and this was in the 70s.

And many, most of us who did not have fathers were involved in what trouble youth involved in criminal activity. And as I look back and began to learn as I matured, I concluded as many studies do that. Fatherless homes have a very detrimental effect on boys in particular, because they really don't know real manhood. They learned manhood is super macho since the manhood on the corner from the street guys and it's destructive much of it. So teaching them that and by the way, we're going to have parenting classes as well that I'm going to ask that the litigants attend. So that's why it's important to me and I know that the street gang members, they go because they don't have fathers in their homes and they're looking for a sense of leadership and manhood to emulate and unfortunately is this twisted sense of manhood, the super macho manhood. And which I challenge a lot of the brothers to be super macho and in the real society and stop punking out and running to the corner because a lot of it is fear of engaging real society and, you know, that that you rid of that fear as you do when you're on the street going to the financial aid office and arguing with the folks who tell you your money is not coming up going to the workplace and uplift yourself educate yourself and learn how to deal with that.

Learn how to deal in the workplace even when you're not necessarily feeling welcome. So those are the things that I try and inspire and those observations I've made throughout my years. The Honorable Greg Mathes, Pulse of the Emmy-nominated Judge Mathes Show. Check your local listings for Times and Stations. For technical producer David Alvarez, I'm Jolly O. Hanson, Jr.