Loyalty is Mayor Frank Jackson’s strong suit. He’s known to be fiercely loyal to those surrounding him, both at city hall and in his personal life. But loyalty has to be a two-way street, and his grandson, Frank Q Jackson, is not returning the loyalty.
He just got popped again last Friday, this time for allegedly possessing prescription narcotic pain pills and a gun, after he threatened two people. Back in June of 2017 CMHA police arrested him after stopping a 2001 Ford F150 for blocking traffic. They found marijuana and a bullet in the truck behind the younger Jackson’s seat, bullets in his pocket and a .40-caliber pistol under the cup holder. He pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon in that case and was allowed to enter a diversion program that wiped the conviction off his record.
Yet here this young man is, back again in less than two years, with the same type of behavior. Does society wait until he kills someone before we realize this thug has a serious problem?
I know that he’ll get a good lawyer, and his family will get advice from police and court officials, but I’m here to tell you that, from my years of running the streets, I know more about this kind of behavior than all of them put together. That’s no brag, just the straight-up truth.
The pills young Jackson was caught with are opioids, and any junkie can tell you that downers make you mean, evil and dangerous. Mix that with a pistol, and a badass attitude (“Hey, my grandfather is the mayor of this motherfucking bitch-assed town!”) and eventually someone is going to get a cap busted in their ass by him, and you can take that to the bank.
Go ahead, put him on probation. But unless he is required to drop piss two or three times a week, he’s not going to quit getting high. And no way can a probation officer (who has upwards of 150 other individuals on their caseload) going to be able to properly monitor his behavior and keep guns out of his hands.
For his own good, and for the life of someone he might kill, Frank Q. Jackson needs to be removed from society until he grows out of his gangster tendencies. I’m not talking about a long sentence, but one that gets his attention and allows him to regroup, change his ways and grow into a real man.
Now it used to be that a prison sentence was almost similar to a death sentence, at least in terms of employment, but that no longer is the case. Effective reentry programs are now in place to assist those coming out of prison. Hell, he could go back to his job at the Cleveland Water Department, no problem.
But the case of Lance Mason should serve as a wakeup call, the courts should be real careful about giving him another break. Now I could be wrong about this young man and what he might do in the future, but why should society take the chance on him? He’s made his bed hard; now it’s time to let him lay in it. And when he comes home his family and the entire community should welcome him back with open arms, and surround him with love.
However, for right now, he should be dropped like a bad habit — like he’s on fire. It just might save someone’s life.
From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.
One Response to “MANSFIELD: The Mayor’s Grandson”
Lydia
Thanks again for a thought provoking article.
It’s not thought provoking to me because I’m a heroine addict and alcoholic. I say that because you lay it out in a way that one cannot make the mistake of misunderstanding what your meaning is and the young man’s delima. You make it evident that his behavior is being repeated and repeated which most likely will continue until he’s GRANTED more serious consequences. I say granted because it’s not until people like us suffer serious/grave consequences (which actually help us) before we have a kind of a spiritual awakening to see and cannot anymore deny our position…that we are killing OURSELVES. And THAT is what a using alcohol/addict can’t see or if we do see, It Really Doesn’t Matter… And, we often convince ourselves that we know exactly what we’re doing and we’re going to drink/use ONLY so much. I’ve O.D.’d 3 times from drinking and 7 times using heroin.
The disease is in the…is the brain (just as lung cancer is in our lungs). We think with our brain therefore our thoughts is the/our problem.
I didn’t mean to make this comment so long and personal… There is no magic wond… The medical professionals have finally deamed addiction of any kind medical. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case when crack cocaine was prominent in society. Now people are granted medical help from the judicial system when before they were sent straight to jail. And as a matter of fact, many of those folks are still dealing with the system (on probation) from charges acquired years ago because it’s not easy staying clean.
Thanks too much Mansfield!! Please keep em coming because we need them!!!