A BRIEF NOTE TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY: UMAR JOHNSON IS NEITHER A LEADER NOR A SCHOLAR

A  BRIEF NOTE TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY:

UMAR JOHNSON IS NEITHER A LEADER NOR A SCHOLAR 

Mukasa Afrika Ma'at

For me, this topic was already checkmate and case closed; I had dealt with Umar being a cultural pimp and a fraud decisively in two essays and had moved on. “Evidence and Facts vs. Fraud and Deception:Umar Johnson, Suspicion and Unanswered Questions” was co-authored with Chantell Beaty with research support from Akbar Arthur Ralston and Khym Ringgold. This essay systematically laid out facts around Umar’s suspicious and fraudulent activity. It also directed the genuine hearted brothers and sisters the Council of Independent Black Institutions (CIBI), which are the actual schools where Umar stole his idea for his imaginary school. The second essay I authored alone was “WhoTaught Umar Johnson How to Pimp Culture? Hidden Color’s Tariq Nasheed and His Greatest Hustle”. This essay pointed out the shyster activity of both Tariq and Umar but also laid out the fact that Tariq taught him how to culture hustle. Instead of responding to these essays with proof of his doctorate degree, financial transparency of the people’s money he collected for the imaginary school,  evidence of his lineage to Frederick Douglass,  or anything else that would constitute a common sense response – he responds with high school-like Facebook threats, memes, and silly name calling! All of which deserved no responses least I stoop to his childish antics.  Chantell Beaty and Khym Ringgold both wrote works, did interviews, and videos raising critical questions that were only met with the same childish high school behavior from Umar and his committed and blind supporters. Chantell Beaty, Khym Ringgold, and Akbar Ralston were all initially supporters of Umar along with Santa Albitrouw from the Neatherlands. Beaty was ready to link him in her international circle. They all began to see through the smokescreen of lies and deceit and they combined to do an explosive radioshow that would lead only the blind and dumb to still follow Umar!

    

His responses to the above works were already an established pattern. He and his cult followers would try to attack critical thinkers to silence them. Well, some critical thinkers are not governed by fear. One of the earliest and most critical essays came from Debborah Cooper entitled, “Unanswered Questions About a Five Million Dollar School” in which she raised all of the sensible questions that should be raised for someone trying to collect large sums of money.  Agyei Tyehimba, who was initially a supporter, wrote an Open Letter to Umar questioning him hanging up on a caller in an interview to dodge questions around how much money he’s raised and how it’s being used.  He also included the clip of Umar in a presentation calling his own supporters “trifling ass Black people” for only giving him a quarter million dollars and he said, and this is a quote, some people only gave him “$25 damn dollars and you think you free now! We gotta raise $2 million dollars, yo ass ain’t done. I betta get some more, and some more, and some more, and some more!” In a youtube video which received wide attention, the Advise Show Media did a show entitled, “Umar Johnson Exposed Himself As A Hotep Hustler!” and he focused on the lunacy of those same statements and questioned Umar’s sanity and why anyone would trust their money or children around him. There have been lots of other articles, videos, and people waking up and questioning the fraud activity and sanity of this guy who our community pathetically propped up as a leader.  I should note that Sister Santa from the Netherlands had secured a multi-million dollar loan for him, believing he was sincere. She was a huge supporter and would have been the most significant supporter. After he turned down the loan, she began asking questions, and it was obvious he didn’t want a business loan. He wanted to fundraise and collect cash and checks. She became a critic as well when she realized he was a fraud.       

Fast forward to today, Umar has lost substantial support at the grassroots level and a lot among the scholarly and activists circles in our community. I know this firsthand for a fact because I receive messages from people thanking me for waking them up to his con-game. I’ve also communicated with scholars and activists in California, Texas, Chicago, Detroit, Ohio, New York, Atlanta, and various locations including overseas asking me to keep them informed and thanking me for sharing the information. None of them will support Umar again and some of these are high profile representatives in the movement with widespread influence. Instead of replying in a scholarly manner to any of my critiques or others, Umar continues to make silly Facebook threats because he can feel his support weakening. However, what he doesn't realize is that he is showing people his true character all by himself.

As a side note, I actually work in education as a Chief Administrative Officer of an Afrikan-Centered school, not an imaginary school. Also, I am a Black Belt martial artist, highest level in Ma’at-Sumu and an instructor of instructors. I’ve taught over a thousand students combat skills, hand-to-hand, closed quarters, and weapons. Not only would I be childish to stoop to Umar’s pathetic Facebook threats, it would be irresponsible also to the thousands of students I’ve educated in schools my entire life – not imaginary schools. It would be reckless as well as a martial artist to threaten him on social media because if I had to neutralize any perp on the street, I’d have to call law enforcement immediately afterwards so that I can be cleared without legal problems using sufficient force for defense. He believes that he is threatening an average man. I pray that he does not have to find out otherwise.  

To bring this brief note to a close, our community must always be alert for shysters, pimps, and charlatans who pose as messiahs, saviors, and princes. I don’t have time to chop them all down, but I've made firewood of many. There are other even more important issues which I focus on more so than culture pimps. Some of my latest very important work is located in the Second Civil Rights Movement wordpress https://secondcivilrightsmovement.wordpress.com/which provides a global, national, state and local perspective on how the education civil rights are violated for millions of poor, Black, Latino, and urban children. Umar is not my intellectual or scholarly peer. Only his supporters who watch videos for research and do not read would think so. In 1996, Umar wrote an article entitle “Women in Islam” where he praised Islam and the Quran. He doesn't even mention the word "Black" or "Afrikan". He mentioned nothing about Pan-Afrikanism, Black Power, or our culture. It was all about Islam for Umar Abdullah-Johnson. The article reminds me of when years ago Umar was in utter denial when I mentioned in a lecture that Arabs had enslaved Afrikans in the name of Islam just as Europeans had used Christianity. He had not been fully converted to Pan-Afrikanism at the time. My self-published book around that time was The Redemption of Afrikan Spirituality: An Afrikan-Centered Historical Critique of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (2002). One essay from that book is Our Revolutionary Heritage. Many of those essays are available online for free. In the late 90’s when Umar was promoting Islam and not anything about Pan-Afrikanism was in his vocabulary, I was writing major essays that went into the book. Also, in 2001, my major paper was completed and entitled Pan-Afrikanism and the Back to Afrika Movement in 19th Century, also available for free. I’ve done significant and extensive work on the subject of Pan-Afrikanism such as Bleeding for Unity: Pan-Afrikanism in Afrika and Events in Congo History from 2005 which has sections available online as well such as the chapter entitled Diamonds, Oil, Race, Religion and Afrikan Wars. This is not a promo of myself. My blogs receive thousands of hits from a global readership I've built over the years. I’m only clarifying the fact that Umar who is a professional fundraiser is not my scholarly peer. He has no works of sort although he is supposedly the Prince of Pan-Afrikanism. He might have been converted to Pan-Afrikanism with some of my essays when he was still pushing Islam. The least he can do is be thankful. The most he can do is consider my writings on his hustle and stop scamming our people for his imaginary school. He is neither a leader nor a scholar and only fools would follow him after they have found out the truth. If these fools wish to follow him still, he deserves all of their money that he can get out of them.