Prime Time: 'Judge Mathis' to deliver EMU graduation speech

By John Mulcahy Legal News From a troubled youth on the streets of Detroit to a legal career and fame as a television courtroom judge, Gregory E. Mathis has traveled a long way in life. Mathis, an Eastern Michigan University alumnus, will return to EMU this Sunday, Dec. 20 to deliver the commencement address to 1,800 graduating students at EMU's Convocation Center. Mathis' television courtroom show, "Judge Mathis," is syndicated on almost 200 television stations across the country. The show features litigants with family, marital, money and other disputes who voluntarily submit their cases to Mathis for a binding decision. Mathis enlivens the show with humorous and sometimes pointed comments about the litigants and their arguments. The show is in its 11th season. EMU professor of speech communication Dennis Beagen, who headed the committee that chose Mathis to speak, said EMU has sought to feature successful alumni in some of its recent commencement speeches. Mathis has an appealing story, Beagen said. "He's an Eastern Michigan University alumnus who has had a very successful career in law and then the media, but in the very early years of his young life he had some challenges that he had to overcome," Beagen said. Mathis received his bachelor's degree from EMU in 1983 and his law degree from the University of Detroit School of Law in 1987. After graduating from EMU, Mathis worked on the staff of Detroit City Councilman Clyde Cleveland and also worked for Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Mathis was active in politics, organizing more than a dozen campaigns that led to the election of numerous politicians. While at EMU, Mathis led the Free South Africa movement on campus and participated in voter registration campaigns. Mathis continues to serve as vice president for Rainbow/PUSH and also is on the Board of Trustees of the Morehouse School of Medicine. Mathis was a Detroit 36th District Court judge from 1995 through 1998. He remains a member of the State Bar of Michigan. Mathis was born in Detroit in 1960. His father left when he was an infant. Mathis' mother raised him and his three half-brothers in an African American working class neighborhood in Detroit. Mathis got into trouble with the law in his teenage years and spent time in jail before he managed to turn his life around and attend college and law school. Mathis documented his life in "Inner City Miracle," an autobiography that he wrote with Blair S. Walker. Mathis also has authored a novel, "Street Judge." In "Inner City Miracle," Mathis rejects what he calls the "rags-to-riches tag," that some people place on him, writing instead that he grew up in "a highly regimented, strict household anchored by a no-nonsense mother who worked several jobs so that my three brothers and I would never go hungry or raggedy." The compelling story of Mathis' life eventually led to his reality courtroom program. Mathis has initiated numerous social outreach programs. One of the most recent efforts is a black prisoner initiative called PEER, or Prisoner Empowerment, Education and Respect. As part of the program, Mathis will visit prisons throughout the country to share his experiences and offer advice and encouragement. Mathis and his wife, Linda, also founded Young Adults Asserting Themselves, or Y.A.A.T., aimed at assisting people ages 17-25 with career opportunities, job training and college enrollment. Mathis and his wife have opened five non-profit preschools in inner-city Detroit and have raised millions of dollars for equal justice, political and youth causes. Mathis will be the guest of honor at a dinner party hosted by EMU President Susan Martin the evening before commencement and he will attend a luncheon with EMU regents and others the day of commencement, EMU spokesman Ward Mullens said. Published: Fri, Dec 18, 2009

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