Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's indicted step grandson surrenders as Blacks are torn over the issue, city prosecutors refusing to bring charges for alleged political reasons and County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley only doing so after media and public pressure....Former state representative Bill Patmon said parents and grandparents are not responsible for grown children and grown grandchildren while some activists say the mayor and his family have gotten favorable treatment from the legal system because Mayor Jackson is the "Godfather of Cleveland" ....The mayor's step grandson is accused of assaulting an 18-year-old Black woman...By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog
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| Frank Q. Jackson and his step grandfather, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, the city's third Black mayor |
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog, both also top in Black digital news in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Coleman is an experienced Black political reporter who covered the 2008 presidential election for the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio and the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016 As to the one-on-one interview by Coleman with Obama CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief |
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio- Frank Q. Jackson, the 22-year-old grandson of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson who was indicted Wednesday on charges of felonious assault, abduction and failure to comply with police relative to a June 10 incident in which the younger Jackson is accused of beating an 18-year old Black woman with a metal truck hitch, surrendered to U.S. marshals late Thursday, an arranged arrest, authorities said.
He is in custody in the Cuyahoga County Jail in downtown Cleveland with his arraignment set for Monday morning at 8:30 am, an arrest warrant issued on Wednesday after the indictment came down. from the county grand jury.
Frank Q. Jackson is in actuality the mayor's step grandson and the biological grandson of the mayor's longtime wife, Edwina Jackson, as the mayor has no biological children.
U.S. marshals arrested the younger Jackson at the home of the mayor's mother on the 2100 block of East 38th St. because the media were camping out all night Wednesday in front of the mayor's home, which is blocks away and also in the Central Neighborhood of Cleveland, one of the poorest communities in the country and where Frank Jackson grew-up and later represented as councilman of Ward 5 before becoming mayor
The mayor had allegedly arranged for his grandson to surrender at his home, authorities said, while sources said U.S. marshals acted hurriedly for fear the younger Jackson would make a run for it in an effort to escape arrest.
The younger Jackson resides with the mayor and his wife, sources say.
The mayor has declined to comment on the controversial case, other than to say its nobody's business.
Frank Jackson is traditionally loyal, to his at-will employees, and to his family members, and people like him.
The case was initially investigated by Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority police who referred it to city prosecutors, who declined to prosecute in spite of witnesses and the alleged victim's statement, and for political reasons, said sources.
County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley a Democrat like Jackson and Jackson's ally, refused to initially seek charges by indictment, O'Malley later bowing to public pressure and saying the case was never referred to his office, even though he does not need a referral to pursue indictments and often times does so independently, particularly against Black people
The Black community is torn over the issue, some saying the grandson received preferential treatment and needs to be held accountable like other Blacks subject to the county's racist legal system, and others saying the younger Jackson is grown and that parents and grandparents can only do so much in channeling the behavior of their children and grandchildren.
"Nobody can control their grown offspring or grown grandchildren," said former state representative Bill Patmon, a former city councilman who left office last year as a state legislator due to term limits. "All you can do is rear them, pray for them, and hope they make the right choices in life."
An activist, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said the mayor and his family members have regularly received favorable treatment when it comes to the criminal justice system of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County and that she expects nothing serious to occur in the current case because "Mayor Jackson is the Godfather of Cleveland."
O'Malley's protection of the mayor's grandson and his failure to seek an indictment absent public pressure is an indication that his office picks and chooses which Blacks to get indicted or to not get indicted, said sources, and regardless of the merits of a criminal case, other Blacks indicted in droves, and sometimes in a malicious fashion, public records reveal.
Whether O'Malley will seek a special prosecutor in the case because of his political relationship with the mayor remains to be seen.
Authorities said the younger Jackson has had several brushes with the law and is allegedly violent, the mayor's 16-year-old great grandson also encountering legal troubles that have caught the attention of the mainstream media.
A former Cleveland City Council president, Jackson, 72, is the city's third Black mayor who is serving a historic fourth term in office.
He is in custody in the Cuyahoga County Jail in downtown Cleveland with his arraignment set for Monday morning at 8:30 am, an arrest warrant issued on Wednesday after the indictment came down. from the county grand jury.
Frank Q. Jackson is in actuality the mayor's step grandson and the biological grandson of the mayor's longtime wife, Edwina Jackson, as the mayor has no biological children.
U.S. marshals arrested the younger Jackson at the home of the mayor's mother on the 2100 block of East 38th St. because the media were camping out all night Wednesday in front of the mayor's home, which is blocks away and also in the Central Neighborhood of Cleveland, one of the poorest communities in the country and where Frank Jackson grew-up and later represented as councilman of Ward 5 before becoming mayor
The mayor had allegedly arranged for his grandson to surrender at his home, authorities said, while sources said U.S. marshals acted hurriedly for fear the younger Jackson would make a run for it in an effort to escape arrest.
The younger Jackson resides with the mayor and his wife, sources say.
The mayor has declined to comment on the controversial case, other than to say its nobody's business.
Frank Jackson is traditionally loyal, to his at-will employees, and to his family members, and people like him.
The case was initially investigated by Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority police who referred it to city prosecutors, who declined to prosecute in spite of witnesses and the alleged victim's statement, and for political reasons, said sources.
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| Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley |
The Black community is torn over the issue, some saying the grandson received preferential treatment and needs to be held accountable like other Blacks subject to the county's racist legal system, and others saying the younger Jackson is grown and that parents and grandparents can only do so much in channeling the behavior of their children and grandchildren.
"Nobody can control their grown offspring or grown grandchildren," said former state representative Bill Patmon, a former city councilman who left office last year as a state legislator due to term limits. "All you can do is rear them, pray for them, and hope they make the right choices in life."
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| Former state representative Bill Patmon, also a former Cleveland councilman |
An activist, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said the mayor and his family members have regularly received favorable treatment when it comes to the criminal justice system of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County and that she expects nothing serious to occur in the current case because "Mayor Jackson is the Godfather of Cleveland."
O'Malley's protection of the mayor's grandson and his failure to seek an indictment absent public pressure is an indication that his office picks and chooses which Blacks to get indicted or to not get indicted, said sources, and regardless of the merits of a criminal case, other Blacks indicted in droves, and sometimes in a malicious fashion, public records reveal.
Whether O'Malley will seek a special prosecutor in the case because of his political relationship with the mayor remains to be seen.
Authorities said the younger Jackson has had several brushes with the law and is allegedly violent, the mayor's 16-year-old great grandson also encountering legal troubles that have caught the attention of the mainstream media.
A former Cleveland City Council president, Jackson, 72, is the city's third Black mayor who is serving a historic fourth term in office.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog, both also top in Black digital news in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Coleman is an experienced Black political reporter who covered the 2008 presidential election for the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio and the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016 As to the one-on-one interview by Coleman with Obama CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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