Dr. Umar Johnson

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About

Dr. Umar Johnson is a motivational speaker, author and child psychologist focused on the Pan-Africanist movement, as well as Black empowerment in general. His online presence is primarily on Twitter and Instagram where he posts inspirational photo quotes, infographics and other text posts aligned with hustle culture aesthetics. Over the years, he's been interviewed on shows like The Breakfast Club mostly about his thoughts on Black America, white America and parenting advice for Black parents. He's stirred controversy regarding his opinions on interracial relationships, notably being called a hypocrite after an incident at Cherry Hill Mall, and challenging Mike Tyson to a boxing match.

Background

Dr. Umar Johnson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 21st, 1974.^[1] His name was originally Jermaine Shoemake but after his divorced father converted to Islam, he reportedly changed Johnson's name. In 1992, Johnson graduated from the former Scotland School of Veteran's Children. Johnson then enrolled in Millersville University in Pennsylvania where he received a B.A. in Political Science and Psychology in 1997. He then went to graduate school at Millersville University where he received a Master's Degree in School Psychology, earning him a Ph.D. title.

After receiving his Master's, he then started working as a school psychologist in Philadelphia. He later enrolled in graduate school again at Lehigh University to earn a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership. Johnson continued to earn Master's Degrees at other universities going into the 2010s.

Online History

Dr. Umar started posting content online in September 2012, beginning on Twitter.^[2] Going into 2014, he then began posting content on Instagram, making his first post^[3] on December 16th, 2014, earning over 480 likes in eight years. Around this time, he was holding public speaking events throughout the American South related to the "State of the Black Male."^[4]

Controversies

Strippergate

In June 2015, Johnson was outed by a woman named Khym Ringgold, also known as the "Conscious Stripper," for sending her illicit text messages.^[5] She shared screenshots of text messages on her Instagram, however, the posts have since been deleted. They can still be seen in a YouTube video posted by Khym Ringgold on August 17th, 2015 (shown below, left). The leak of these messages was detrimental to Johnson's reputation based on his insistence of celibacy in his preachings.

Johnson later posted a Facebook video about the allegations that has since been deleted, however, on September 28th, 2016, he was interviewed by DJ VLAD on YouTube where he resurfaced his thoughts on the event. He discussed in the interview how the scandal had cost him a $1 million donation from an anonymous NBA player. Over the course of six years, the video received roughly 301,400 views (shown below, right).

Interracial Marriage Opinions

On June 30th, 2017, Dr. Umar appeared on The Breakfast Club where some of his more controversial opinions on interracial marriage between Black and white people surfaced in mainstream media. When uploaded to YouTube on June 30th, the video received roughly 4.9 million views in five years (shown below, left). At the 18:52-minute mark, Johnson starts talking about Frederick Douglass and his marriage to a white woman in his old age. He labeled it a mistake in Douglass's judgment and continued to discuss with the hosts why interracial marriage is a condition of Black people's self-hatred.

His opinions inspired discussion online and snowballed into another interview on July 10th, 2017, on One Now's show One-On-One with Roland Martin where Johnson was asked to clarify his statements made on The Breakfast Club. When uploaded to YouTube by Roland Martin's official channel, the video received roughly 5.3 million views in five years (shown below, right).

Dr. Umar at Cherry Hill Mall

On June 2nd, 2022, Dr. Umar was videotaped at Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey because he appeared to be flirting with a white woman. The video was posted by Twitter^[6] user Reese_856 where over the course of one day, it received roughly 3.1 million views and 44,400 likes (shown below).

Many Twitter users reacted to the video, inspiring memes and tweets about the apparent contradiction that was occurring regarding Johnsons's opinions on Black and white relationships. The video prompted a reply^[7] from Johnson himself, who stated, "As I was leaving the mall, I stopped at a kiosk to view the incense & crystals. That non-afrikan woman is simply the vendor." The reply received roughly 13,000 likes in one day (shown below).