Dr. LaShondra Jones helps veterans mired in the criminal justice system

The affinity that Dr. LaShondra Charmaine Jones has shown veterans was apparent after conversing with a Vietnam-era veteran in 2012 while volunteering at a reentry facility in Houston, Texas.

“The facility specifically focuses on men who’ve been incarcerated 20 or more years,” said Jones, a native Memphian who graduated Dec. 10, 2016, from Texas Southern University in the Barbara Jordan/Mickey Leland School of Public Policy.

Dr. LaShondra Charmaine Jones

 After nearly four years of study, Jones, 41, scrolled upfront in cap and gown during the graduation ceremony in the Health and Physical Education Arena to receive her Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department Administration of Justice.

She had penned her dissertation on veterans who served gallantly during Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom and their post-combat involvement in criminal activity.

It was aptly titled “An Analysis of the Resiliency and Criminal Justice Involvement of Combat Veterans.”

The conversation that Jones had with the veteran sparked her interest in the more than 21 million veterans in the United States – according to the Census Bureau’s 2014 figures – who find themselves caught up in a bureaucratic labyrinth that they can’t seem to navigate.

This veteran, whom Jones befriended, had spent more than 30 years in prison and lost his right to vote. “He said, ‘I’m on paper until about 2040. I’m already in my 60s and I’ll never be able to vote again.’”

Jones, a veteran herself, enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at 17. She served four years of active duty and was honorably discharged in 1998. Consumed by compassion, she couldn’t believe what she’d heard and wanted to do something about it. The man had paid his dues, she said, but that wasn’t enough.

“The first job that he got when he was released from prison is the same job that he’s still on. He’s constantly getting promoted. He’s been on the job about seven or eight years,” she said.

“For me, that just took my breath away,” Jones continued. “You have a Vietnam veteran that was drafted, served his country, and came back… so [they] turn to drugs and alcohol, crime, because of the things that they’d experienced and were exposed to in Vietnam.”

If the man’s criminal record can’t be expunged, he’d never be able to vote, she pointed out. “He’s served his time, served his country. He’s a law-abiding citizen and no longer can gain his right to vote.”

Jones had traded Memphis for Houston in 2011 in search of a new perspective, to pursue her doctorate, and to secure a decent job in her chosen field. She’d already earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Memphis after concluding her service in the U.S.M.C.

But something was stirring in Jones. She sought to right what she deemed to be wrong with the treatment of veterans. She studied law, served as a paralegal, and worked for the county attorney’s office in Memphis.

“My goal was to get involved in law some kind of way,” said Jones, who was raised by her mother, Teresa McGlothlin.

While working at a homeless facility for veterans in Houston, for example, Jones noticed the challenges they were confronted with. Crime had run amok among the veterans and mental illness was pervasive.  

“You have a lot of decorated soldiers that are homeless,” she said, “because they’ve become involved in the criminal justice system. Now you have Purple Heart [recipients] sleeping in homeless shelters.”

Jones currently works as a program coordinator in Houston for Catholic Charities in the Pathways to Hope/Lotus Project program to help women veterans regain their “resiliency” and “self-sufficiency.”

In 2015, she interned as a policy associate with State Sen. Rodney Glenn Ellis’s Texas Legislative Internship Program during the 84^th Texas Legislative Session and focused on legislation that impacted veterans.

“The first thing they did was placed me with a policy firm that allowed me to focus specifically on veterans legislation,” said Jones, who testified several times before the Texas House and Senate on behalf of veterans.

“I got opportunities to meet a lot of legislators and they began to defer to me about veterans,” she added.

Jones attends national conferences across the country to learn more about veterans. She served three terms on the Texas Veteran Commission Funds for Veteran Assistance and was the first African American and first female to be elected chairman and vice-chairman of the board.

She also is active in the Houston Branch NAACP, where she serves as vice-chairman of the Armed Forces Committees. Her short-term goal is to move to Washington, D.C. to lobby for veterans.

“I would like to be a part of the Senate one day,” said Jones, hoping someday to toss her hat into the political ring. “Who knows?”

'Father' to many, Barron K. McGlothin passes at 53

      The man affectionately known as “Baba” was kind, affable, civil and never forgot where he came from. He even assured his mother that he would make her proud some day.

      Barron Keith McGlothlin made good on that promise. He’d become a consummate educator, businessman, executive, events planner, community servant, church worker, family man, and managed some of the industry’s top gospel artists.

      “I mostly raised him without a father,” said Paralee Cager. “He never forgot the struggle that I had to go through. He loved me and always tried to see about me.”

      McGlothlin loved God, too, and never forgot the church, said Cager, struggling with grief after losing a second son in less than two years. Darron McClothlin, her eldest, died in June 2013.

      On Friday, Feb. 20, McClothlin was found unresponsive in a running Cadillac Escalade in an unlit area not far from the Memphis International Airport. There were no signs of foul play, Memphis police said. The cause of death is still pending.

      McGlothlin was 53.

Barron Keith McGlothlin (second from right)

      Despite the circumstances surrounding her son’s death, Cager said, “I love my son. If I could change things, he would be with me today. God lent him to me for awhile and came back to pick up one of the best.”

      McGlothlin loved his family, too, his brother said. Although 11 years separated them, “his passing was an eye-opening experience,” said the Rev. Fredrick Cager, senior pastor of True Authority Church in Cordova.

      “A piece of my life is gone…a piece of the world is gone,” said Rev. Cager, who was left with the responsibility of tending his brother’s personal affairs. “I miss him, but I haven’t had the opportunity to grieve. I haven’t had the time to register that he’s passed.”

      Reflecting on what his brother meant to him, Rev. Cager said, “My family was raised in poverty in North Memphis. He was the first to go to college, the first to leave Memphis, the first to branch outside the restraints (of poverty). So I attribute to him the things I’ve received (in life) by watching him.”

      McGlothlin was always enlarging his territory, his brother said – for example, as an executive staff member of the Church of God in Christ’s International Music Department, as the administrative aide and business manager to the late national recording artist O’landa Draper, and as a productive member of Greater Community Temple COGIC.

      “He served in many capacities such as events planner, director of Community Relations, director of our annual 10-week summer camp called ‘Camp Porter,’ where he hired certified instructors and others to provide a safe, fun and educational haven for children ages 4-15,” said Bishop Brandon B. Porter, GTC’s senior pastor and jurisdictional prelate of COGIC’s Tennessee Central Jurisdiction.

      Bishop Porter also said that McGlothlin was responsible for coordinating the church’s annual picnic and worked very closely with the community benevolent outreach ministries that delivered food, clothes, toys, etc., to thousands of families in need.

      The Rev. Ricky Floyd, pastor of The Pursuit of God Transformation Center, said, “On the first day Baba and I met, we instantly became family and friends.”

      That was 3 ½ years ago, said Floyd, when Kingdom Alliance Entertainment presented McGlothlin, Tracy Bethea of 95.7 Hallelujah FM, and Floyd with a “Kingdom Shaker and Mover Award” for their work in advancing the “Kingdom.”

      Over the course of their friendship, the clergyman noted that McGlothlin helped his son with his rapping career and helped his other son grow his graphic’s business.

      He also worked with notable gospel singers such as Perfection, 4 Given, Change, Josh Bracy, The Clark Sisters, Dottie Peoples, Yolanda Adams, Kurt Carr, Kathy Taylor Brown, Crystal Rucker, and others.

      Gwendolyn Turner, co-founder of the Angelic Voices of Faith, remembers having dinner with McGlothlin at a restaurant where the general manager offered to define McGlothlin’s nickname.

      “He said baba in his country means father,” said Turner, using the meaning to reference McGlothlin’s multifaceted career and his intense relationship with friends and loved ones.

      “Baba fathered so many of us,” she said. “He fathered us in how to treat each other; he fathered us in the ways of business; and he fathered us in music ministry. There was no one he would not help, advise, or counsel.”

      McGlothlin used those inherent qualities to advance the thinking of his students in Memphis and Shelby County Schools as well, which earned him the honor of being an “Outstanding Black Educator” and “Teacher of the Year.”

      “He was very smart,” his brother said.

      McGlothlin’s absence is causing hearts to break.

      “Our faith in God will help us get through this,” said Teresa McGlothlin, an aunt.

      Visitation is Friday, Feb. 27, from 5-7 p.m. at Greater Community Temple COGIC, 5151 Winchester Rd. The funeral is 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, also at the church, followed by the interment in Southwoods Memorial Park, 5485 Hacks Cross Rd.

      N.J. Ford and Sons Funeral Home has charge.