I was saddened to hear about the recent arrest of Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson and his wife Leslie. Both Jack and his wife are well-respected in the DC area. Both have served their communities for decades, and both of them represent the essence of Prince George's County, the most affluent county in the United States with an African-American majority population.

Johnson was once an important ethical and legal protector of the county, serving as its lead Prosecutor. His wife has served the community for over 30 years in numerous capacities. He was also the first African American to become County Executive in the DC area. So, why are Johnson and his wife facing up to 20 years in prison for evidence tampering and destruction of evidence, among other charges? In fact, the story is quite bizarre, with reports of the FBI allegedly recording Johnson telling his wife to put nearly $80,000 in her underwear.

I thought hard about Johnson's plight when I heard about it, primarily because they remind me of my own family. My father (the one who raised me, not my biological one) is roughly the same age as Jack Johnson (I have very young parents, they are almost like siblings). He was also a high-ranking, well-respected law enforcement official. The father who raised me never went to prison, although my biological father did. I heard about the story and I immediately felt for the Johnson's three children, who are likely traumatized by the idea of their parents appearing in newspapers across the nation after being accused of stuffing cash in their underwear. It's all just very sad.

When I see the Johnson family, I see the American dream, or at least part of it. Once featured on the cover of magazines as the model of success for the black community, the Johnsons and their three children were all that every black family wanted to be. Johnson's bio says the following about the embattled political figure:

"The son of hard-working blue-collar parents, Jack B. Johnson took his mother's advice to heart: Education opens the doors to dreams and aspirations. He embraced his father's rule of standing up for what is right and wrong. Together his parents instilled in him a set of core values that Mr. Johnson honors to this day: Live in faith, do good deeds, and make a difference in the community."

You might be surprised to hear this, but I do not necessarily consider that section of Johnson's bio to be a contradiction. No matter what the outcome of these allegations happens to be, I am a believer that good people can do bad things, and that many politicians enter their tainted environments with sincere intentions. Johnson and his wife (whom he met at Howard University law school), have proven through the years that they are committed to their community, and in spite of the allegations, I don't believe they are evil to the core. This does not, of course, mean that they should not be held accountable for their actions.

Washington DC, like many other cities across America, is plagued by corrupt politics. Even before former Mayor Marion Barry was flashed across the nation as the "Say no to drugs" poster child, there were quite a few instances in which politicians have been caught with their pants down (literally and figuratively). An area with so many attorneys per capita is surely going to be muddled with the complexities of political short-comings, and I admittedly don't trust most politicians as far as I can throw them. I recently did work with a DC attorney on a lawsuit and now find myself chasing this attorney down in order to get my money. Politicians and attorneys can be powerful, sharp and potentially deceptive, depending on the disposition they choose to take.

What I also believe about the Johnson corruption scandal is that living in one of the wealthiest communities in America and holding a position of prominence can put a tremendous amount of pressure on a couple raising three children in a world that expects them to live a particular lifestyle.

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Let's be clear: Many of us in the educated black middle class are not as well-off as we pretend to be. Some of us earn six figures, but find that money is still incredibly tight. We send our children to universities where the tuition is unaffordable, drive cars with massive notes, and buy homes with gut-wrenching mortgages. Our wealth levels rarely match our incomes, giving us almost no cushion in the advent of an economic downturn. That doesn't include the student loan debt that African American college graduates are likely forced to accumulate in order to get through school. I gave up the idea of keeping up with anyone's expectations long ago, because I found that it's just too much trouble.

For the Johnsons, the issues were likely even more acute: when you are a public figure, you're expected to dress a particular way, give to charitable causes (you know, those $500 per plate fundraisers), travel all over the country and show absolutely no sign whatsoever of any form of economic weakness. You feel the financial stress, but because everyone around you appears to be O.K., you don't want to be the outlier. Then, when the wealthy real estate developer offers you $100,000 under the table to "make things happen," you are severely tempted to take that check. After all, everyone else is doing it, since we know how politics works in both Washington D.C. and across America. Typically, the unethical behavior that is uncovered pales in comparison to the that which is left under the rug.

I am not here to say that I think Jack and Leslie Johnson are guilty or innocent. But if it is the case that the FBI recordings of their conversations are legitimate, I would fully expect that "keeping up with the Joneses" may have played a role in their poor choices. But at the same time, many of us in the black middle class are trying to keep up with the Joneses (or the Johnsons) and making bad decisions in order to maintain an image that might not be necessary in the first place. It's O.K. to live in a home that's not as nice as the one you could have afforded. It's O.K. to drive a mediocre car. The man with the most important position in the company doesn't have to have the biggest office and wear the most expensive suits. Money should help us feel liberated, not enslaved, and I fear that a need for money may have cost the Johnsons their freedom.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.