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IN MEMORIAM: Jonathan Donald Matthews, 47

Matthews used his legal training to serve the community, and to help those in need. He served as the director of The Brazilian Alliance from 2008 to 2020, where he helped to bring 3,000 undocumented immigrants to become fully legal green-card holders. He saved a dozen families from extreme domestic violence issues and protected about 30 women going through difficult divorce cases and the rights of their children. He also represented and help change the lives of many in the Marin County’s Latinx community.

Published

2 years ago

January 14, 2023

Oakland Post

Jonathan Donald Matthews. Facebook photo.

By Godfrey Lee

Jonathan Donald Matthews, an active member of Village Baptist Church and an attorney, passed away at age 47 on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022. A Celebration of Life Ceremony was held on Jan. 7, 2023, at the Cornerstone Community Church of God in Christ in Marin City, and was officiated by Bishop Jonathan D. Logan, Sr. and Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Akognon, according to the ceremony’s program.

Matthews was born on Jan. 11, 1975, at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. His family moved to Marin City in August of that year.

After graduating from Marin Catholic High School in 1992, Matthews attended and graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1996, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government and history. He later graduated from the Stanford Law School in 1999 and passed the Bar in 2004.

Matthews became an active member of Village Baptist Church as a child. He was ordained in 2005 to serve as a deacon, and later as the chairman of the deacons’ board. He also served on the Board of Elders. He led the church ministry team, co-led the church management team, and headed the cell group for the Wednesday Bible Study Ministry. He also taught Sunday School for several years and took the children for outings.

Matthews served on the Village Oduduwa Housing Corporation of Marin City, which is the housing ministry of the church governing and administrating the 25-unit senior housing on the church property, and on the board of the Better Africa Foundation, the church’s multi-ministry in West Africa. He also managed the church’s food pantry and the ministry to the homeless for many years.

Matthews tutored math and helped several people to prepare for math tests in order to secure apprenticeships or licenses.

Matthews leaves behind his wife, Krystie; mother Carolyn; father Donald; brother William and; sister Joanna Paun (John) ; and his sister Faith, who wrote: “I’m going to miss learning new ways of being a good human from him, ways of being kind and caring toward everyone who needs looking after, and small gestures that can make a huge difference and leave a lasting impression…I know he will live on in the hearts of many and leave a legacy in this world that other can continue be inspired by.”

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Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

2 days ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.