*Dr. Umar Johnson is on an epic, non-stop, and unapologetic mission to educate black people in America, especially inner-city young black males.
With the robust agenda of addressing the education and mental health of all African American children, Johnson, a clinical psychologist and certified school psychologist, uses multiple platforms to speak out and correct what he deems “the miseducation” of black youth attending public schools in America.
“I’m on a mission to unite African people, and to wake up black parents as it relates to their obligations to protect their children inside these houses of sin, otherwise known as public schools,” Johnson told EURweb’s Lee Bailey during a recently interview. “The war against black boys is one of the major crises facing black America. So being an activist and being a school psychologist, I’m able to bring both my walks of life together to try to aid and benefit the struggle of my people.”
Johnson is also founder and president of the National Independent Black Parent Association (NIBPA), which he organized to find solutions to stop educational and academic racism in such areas as special education, school discipline, school finances, social support/services, school policies, home schooling, and parent advocacy. The organization recently held a two-day (January 27 and 28) Regional Training Conference in San Diego, Calif.
Additionally, Johnson has authored the riveting book, “Psycho-Academic Holocaust: The Special Education and ADHD Wars Against Black Boys.”
“This is the only book currently in print that teaches black parents the ins and outs of the miseducation machine,” said Johnson. “The book is about how special education and ADHD work to marginalize and disenfranchise black boys in America.”
While Johnson’s agenda is filled with strategies to empower inner-city black boys and girls in public schools, he also has a poignant message for black adults struggling in America. His message is essentially, only black people, not white people, can save black people.
“My platform is unapologetic African, which is a concept movement I created several years ago which basically speaks to the need of African people to stand up and be who we are without any apologies to anyone else,” explained Johnson. “I’m not against helping non-Africans to understand the plight of African people. But I understand that even if they come to a thorough knowledge to the problems that we face, and how best to fix the problems, most of them (white people) are not going to do anything of significance to help us reverse our circumstances.”
Johnson, who says he’s a blood relative of iconic abolitionist/orator Frederick Douglass, knows that moving black people from dependency on white America has been historically slow. He also believes that white people have historically used the “divide and conquer” techniques that continue to manifest into why black people hate each other.
“Because we are self-hating people, we love nothing more than conflict and a good fight between each other,” said Johnson. “That’s why anytime something negative occurs it gets way more attention than something positive.”
Johnson, who holds the work of the late-Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey in high esteem, admits that conflicts and self-hatred exist in among other ethnicities, but adds…
“They may have conflicts, but these conflicts do not erode their need to work together as a people to achieve the different objectives that their community needs,” Johnson interjected. “With us it’s the opposite, because of conflicts and petty differences, it prevents us from working together to destabilize the control white supremacy has on us.”
Bailey asked about the controversy, conflict and perceived dislike between Johnson and General Sara Suten Seti, who like Johnson, is a major voice in the black conscious community and Red/Black/Green (RBG) Movement. The question was in reference to videos that went viral last December, which featured both men unleashing barrages of vicious insults, profanity and other degrading verbiage at each other, seemingly to denigrate and minimize the work and contributions of the other in the black conscious community and RBG Movement.
“When there are attacks made upon us by other members of the same community, we have to create a better atmosphere and open up communication so we don’t create a bad example for the children who are coming behind us,” Jackson said in retrospect. “…because many of our children look up to us and admire our work.”
Johnson said he and Seti have not spoken since the videos lit up social media platforms. However, he believes at the right time, their paths will cross, but in a peaceful manner to keep the agenda of empowering black people moving forward, something that will be much tougher now, he believes, under the new administration of President Donald J. Trump.
“I think it really hurt us over the last eight years of President Obama, because we allowed America to take the black agenda off the table,” Johnson said. “And it will be very hard now to get the black agenda put back on the table after it was suffocated so Obama would have a comfortable presidency. So it will be tougher, because Trump will have the alibi, ‘If the black president didn’t have to do anything for Black people, why do I?’ ”
For more information on projects and events associated with Dr. Umar Johnson, including information about his upcoming National Independent Black Parent Association’s Regional Training Conferences, log on to www.drUmarJohnson.com or email: [email protected].
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