He hasn't changed. I don't give a fuck how clean cut he look. Just remember, I used to lay in bed listening to you cry over him.
-Franklin Saint
Alton Williams is Franklin Saint's estranged father.
Biography[]
He was a former Black Panther during the Jim Crow era. His past actions as a Panther drove a wedge between him and his family. He even killed his own cousin, Jack, after learning he was a snitch for the feds. After his actions pushed his wife and son over the edge, he went homeless abandoning his family. He later turned his life around after the police led a brutal street cleanup that put him in the hospital and returned back to his wife while working at Cho's. In the fourth season, he ran the Edgewood Shelter, a place for the homeless but held strict rules for the tenants in order for them to stay at the shelter, despite the fact that his son was funding the shelter with drug money. Knowing full well what kind of damage the crack Franklin was peddling and the fact that the CIA was supplying him, he joined forced with reporter Irene Abe in exposing the corruption in the CIA and bring down Teddy McDonald who was funding a Contra war in Nicaragua by pushing drugs on the streets of LA. When Irene was killed, he and Cissy made a plan to flee to Cuba.
In the episode 'Other Lives' during the alternate timeline, it was mentioned that Alton didn't survive the police brutality he received in 'Prometheus Rising' and died from his injuries.
In the final season, it is revealed that Teddy McDonald shot him dead in Cuba and dumped his body.
Legacy[]
Despite not being a Black Panther anymore, he always believed the system was built to eradicate his kind. His beliefs weighed heavy on the people around him, including his family. Even after getting his life back on track, the scars in the Saint Family remained. When he saw the change that was happening in LA because of the business his son was running, he was determined to bring out the truth, regardless of the threats and roadblocks thrown in front of him. It was his decision to challenge the federal government in which put him in the crosshairs of Teddy McDonald and the CIA, even fleeing the country didn't stop Teddy from pursuing him.
Appearances[]
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Quotes[]
- "Well, I'm sorry. I thought I was helping. Hey, you've done-- you done right by me. Nurse me back to life, and I'm gonna send you what I can when the benefits start to come in. But I refuse to be more of a burden to you than I've been already, so tomorrow, I'm gonna move out. But thank you for everything. You are quite a woman. And it's not like I didn't know that before."
- — Alton to Cissy thanking her for helping him after he was released from the hospital. (Serpiente)
- "You can't control what happens, Franklin. You can't stop what's coming."
- — Alton to Franklin upon learning his son will not walk away. (Other Lives)
- "Listen, think about what we've been through. We have survived massacres in Africa, enslavement, the Middle Passage. We survived reconstruction, Jim Crow, lynching's and the ruthless oppression that still continues till this day. But I don't know if we can survive this... this systematic poisoning of our people by the government... and by you... son. You are killing us all, don't you see that?!"
- — Alton to Franklin after being confronted about exposing his dealings with Reed Thompson, just before getting a pistol whip. (Through a Glass, Darkly)
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