Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Grand Master Jay, or John Fitzgerald Johnson, is accused of pointing an AR-style rifle at federal agents and police officers in downtown Louisville. He has taken several opportunities to explain that he and the Not FuckingAround Coalition are not fans of the decentralize movement advocating for non-violent civil disobedience. Despite these travailsor because of themJay modeled the NFAC on the military in which he had served. He managed to get his name on 47 state ballots, running under the progressive platform of racism, womens rights, and economic equality as its three pillars. Grandmaster Jay might have an easier time describing the group by saying what it is not: neither left or right, not anti-semitic, not a gun club and not a social club. 2023, Hearst Television Inc. on behalf of WLKY-TV. The visit was one of multiple last summer. That movement accomplished nothing, Jay told me, just a lot of singing, a lot of hand-holding, a lot of sentiments and praise.. Grandmaster Jay is clear when saying his group doesn't protest. [5] [6] It denies any connection to the Black Panther Party or Black Lives Matter. Grandmaster Jay says beyond trying to "police ourselves," he would like to work with local governments and community groups. That includes defending it. During Friday's hearing,Judge Jennifer Wilcox ordered Johnson to have no firearms or deadly weapons while the case is pending. Kelly Clarkson's Home Collection Is Up to 74% Off During Way Day Deals, The Best Wayfair Way Day Deals 2023 Starting at $30. Jays military career, like most things about him, is strange. By arresting Jay, the government took him out of circulation as a militia leader. They joined a group that promised to take a bite out of the Earth and reserve it for Black people. A man calling himself Grandmaster Jay has raised a disciplined, heavily armed militia. WebGrandmaster Jay, the outspoken leader of the NFAC, has been convicted. Surely, though, there must be limits to what Jays followers can accept. All lives!). HE POINTED A RIFLE AT LOUISVILLE POLI OCEFFICERS. In one of Jays videos, he tells his followers that he intends to meet each and every last one of you face-to-face, to conduct an interrogation to screen out fakes, wannabes, snakes, and spiders. Jay says he will swear people in after they have put your life on the line by standing armed in an NFAC formation, in a situation where other armed groups might start trouble. Arbery was pursued by three white men and fatally shot. In Louisville, just two hours from where Jay and I sat, the NFAC first revealed the extent of its capabilities. Four decades later, the activist Robert F. Williams wrote the classic text of Black armed resistance, Negroes With Guns, which argues that violence against Black people calls for violence by Black people. NFAC says it is the definition of a Black Militia and is the largest one in the U.S., with chapters in almost every city. [7] Stories worth watching 16 videos. His group, armed with guns, moved into Louisville twice in the wake of Breonna Taylor's death for what they described as peaceful formations: Once in July and again during the 2020 Kentucky Derby in September. WebGrand Master Jay explains in 2016 interview why he was at the trump rally #NFAC. On Wednesday, the Jefferson County Grand Jury returned an indictment on Johnson for five counts of wanton endangerment. Im not at liberty to discuss those. I asked if he felt obliged to oaths of secrecy sworn to the U.S. military that had twice expelled him from its ranks. He's delivering life-saving stem cells, Women In Government: A conversation between Kristie Dukes Davis and Victoria Parks, DHL tug and ramp workers at CVG say yes to the Teamsters, How to vote in Ohio's special primary election May 2 or check if you need to vote at all. I saw that I had been socialized to believe that I was second-class, that there was something criminal inherent about me, he said. Copyright 2021 WAVE 3 News. Dont forget that you can do your part by visitingComplexs Pull Up & Votesitewhere you can double-check your registration, register to vote if you havent, and request a mail-in ballot. Grandmaster Jay is the head of the NFAC-- the Not F**king Around Coalition. The cops took his rifles too. White people decided to act up and show us their true colors, Jay said. He wore his trademark body armor and sunglasses in the summer heat and spoke grandly of self-defense, Black empowerment and the creation of a Black nation. But Jay has loyal followers, maybe in spite of these eccentricities, and maybe because of them. (Right-wingers, gun enthusiasts, and ex-military types on social media ridicule Jay for his and his followers poor weapons discipline.). 2023, Hearst Television Inc. on behalf of WLKY-TV. A West Chester man, intent on defending African Americans in the midst of police brutality and racism, has formed a Black militia group that is gaining attention nationwide and around the world. He led a crowd of tens of thousands across the Arthur Ravenel Bridge to protest the mass shooting. (By contrast, aerial photos suggest that the white militiamen present that day could have fit in a small school bus.) Twenty-twenty is a great example. Someone has said before, Well, if it had been you guys there would have been bodies on the front lawn. I said, Well, its not so much whether or not it would be us, its how does the United States handle this and appear fair and equitable in the eyes of all citizens?' But Jay told me that when he floated Wyoming to his followers, their response was: Hell nonobody wants to go to Wyoming. (Shelby notes that the desire to establish a Black homeland on American territory likewise has a long history, showing up in Harry Haywoods book Negro Liberation in the 1940s and the Republic of New Afrika movement in the 60s and 70s.). The coalition is larger than the older [white] militias. Ultimately, Jay calls for descendants of the Portuguese and Atlantic slave trade to separate themselves from others and create a Black ethnostate. At some point he got married, though he refused to say more about his domestic life. This may galvanize inquiring minds, but the road to becoming an actual member is fairly straightforward. The U.S. government is going around cleaning up all of those other organizations, he said. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The leader of the Black militia group known as the NFAC pleaded not guilty to federal charges in court on Friday. At that time, LMPD officers at the scene received a radio transmission stating that a group of "six to eight heavily armed individuals" were parked on Armory Place, near a parking garage, according to court documents. He does not want NFAC members to participate in anything like January 6. In Germany, Jay was treated with the utmost respect, and he said he enjoyed a reprieve from the American racial hierarchy. He has already planned an appeal to a verdict by a Louisville jury. Grandmaster Jay hosts a series of IG Live talks with titles such as Facts Over Feelings,in which he expounds ontopics ranging from personal development to new developments involving the organization. Public order is the hostage of the most radical gunman present. Jay claims that the NFAC first appeared publicly when nine white supremacists came to Dayton, Ohio, in May 2019. The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. john johnson, who goes by the name grandmaster j. we to guilty this morning to five counts of wanton endangerment. Ive visited the death camps. In August 2003, according to the affidavit, Jay entered Fort Bragg and threatened to kill his wife (who was also a soldier) and her platoon sergeant at a recognition ceremony. They include defending the Black community, being responsible firearms owners and educating and fostering unity. As Jay browsed real estate, he also made overseas allies, he said, in Black-liberation movements in Africa and Europe. I'm a description. In Jefferson County, Johnson is facing five counts of wanton endangerment, one for each person on the roof at the time. You would sit that person down and have a word with him., Jay reappeared in 2015 as an ally of the movement he now denigrates, Black Lives Matter. STEPHON: NEW TONIGHT, THE LEADER OF A BLACK MILITIA WAS INDICTED ON CHARGES. Compare the NFACs military-style discipline, Jay said, with white militias. To demonstrate its power, Jay said, the NFAC aims to assemble, in one place, a million legal [Black] gun owners, to show that the United Black Kemetic Nation can defend itself. Great Jones Cookware Review: Is It Worth Buying? COMPLEX participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means COMPLEX gets paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. When I spoke with him after January 6, he still slipped into periodic fits of rage at the impertinence of my questions, but he stressed that the NFAC is peaceful and wants to open up a dialogue and stabilize the situation.. I thanked Jay for his time, and he thanked me for mine. Updated: Jun. Like a Rubiks Cube.. Prosecutors said Johnson faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the state charges. His story, and the purpose of Not Fucking Around, became a little more clear, and a little less. At one point in our conversation, I thought I might have detected such a limit. "We respond to situations where there's been a killing within our community, and law enforcement nor the legislature seem reluctant to give us the same level of assistance they give to people of other demographics in a timely fashion.". BOZICH | Who would have beaten Secretariat? One man has a Texas-flag patch Velcroed to his body armor; a woman taps the trigger guard of her AR-15 with a three-inch yellow fingernail. Jays own record is blemished with accusations of violence (he denies them), and amid his long sermons about racial maturity and spiritual self-awareness, he sometimes makes alarming threats. (That might explain his given name: He would have been born just nine days after the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.) According to Jay, Were not here to attack anyone. Do you know anything about these things?. After his final discharge, Jay disappeared for several years. What were talking [about] here is a legal action that takes us from being freed slaves and descendants of slaves in a country that classifies us by color and denigrates us by race to a place where we are citizens of our own country, he said. Washington man isn't going on a vacation. How did we get here? A court date has been scheduled for April 25. Laws, he told me, are just paper, and it is only reasonable that Black people arm and train themselves to act as an immediate bulwark against the continued human-rights abuses perpetrated against them. No. Updated: 5:01 PM EST November 9, 2022. Federally, he's charged with one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees and one count of brandishing a firearm in relation to a crime of violence in relation to the same incident.The NFAC formations in Louisville were large, but mostly peaceful and without issue. Kelly Clarkson's Home Collection Is Up to 74% Off During Way Day Deals, The Best Wayfair Way Day Deals 2023 Starting at $30. Thats the kicker. He left the Army in 1997 but despised civilian life. Like Garveys, Jays rhetoric calls for Black self-reliance and segregation from white people. John Fitzgerald Johnson, who also is known as Grandmaster Jay, is the enigmatic founder of the Not Fucking Around Coalition. I'm a title. Black Lives Matter was the forefront of the pro-Black movement until it was hijacked by other entities, so it does not represent the will or the sentiment of the Black nation. If he is indicted, he could stand trial. "That was probably one of the first times in recent times that the appearance of African Americans dressed in combat-style gear, carrying semi-automatic weapons in a defensive posture was something that hadn't been seen in recent societies," he says. On one end, it means the establishment of an infrastructure that can assist in being the framework for community, self-policing, and the protection of our own communities and our race. And on the other end, the NFACs ultimate goal will be in the facilitating of the exodus from this country of those who are willing to leave to go someplace else, where racism is not an issue. Over Zoom, he expressed his sincere intent of enabling Black Americans to determine their own destiny, determine their own economy, defend their own homeland, and build their own culture.. Washington man isn't going on a vacation. Grandmaster Jay has gone out of his way to make it known that the NFAC has no affiliations or ties to Black Lives Matter. His website, onlywecanfixus.com, advertised a bid for the White House on an independent ticket. When I mentioned W. E. B. He swooned during the eclipse, felt a wave of energy, and began preaching the ideas of the NFAC soon after. A Jefferson County grand jury will now decide whether to indict the leader of an armed militia for allegedly pointing his gun at officers during protests in Louisville. They do not bicker with other protesters, carry signs, or explain themselves. But my goodness, the weaponryAR-15s galore, sniper rifles with scopes and bipods, high-capacity magazines, and enough tactical clothing to resupply an Army-surplus store. Its an extremely top-down, chain-of-command organization, perfect for people who like to take orders, or give them. Some sources say he is as young as 50, others as old as 59. If youre biracial, your father must be Black. The other criteria relate to recruits ability to arm themselves without attracting the attention of law enforcement. We sat in Jays SUV, which soon filled with pleasant Cajun aromas from the scallops. Jay described its recruiting strategy: You must be Black, he said. 22, 2021 at 11:37 AM PDT. The NFAC is a militia comprisedof Black members whose core is believed to be largely ex-military. His group, armed with guns, moved into Louisville twice in the wake of Breonna Taylor's death for what they described as peaceful formations: Once in July and again during the 2020 Kentucky Derby in September.Months later, in December, Johnson was federally charged, accused of pointing a rifle during the September demonstration at LMPD, FBI and Secret Service agents, who were on top of the Jefferson County Grand Jury Building.According to the documents, the FBI reviewed the surveillance video from the incident, which consisted of real-time crime center camera footage. So it proved to be fertile ground for the creation of the NFAC, the same way it was fertile ground in the 60s to create the Black Panthers. The organization is roughly three years old, according to Grandmaster Jay, but only recently has the NFAC reached the nationwide discussion about race and police brutality, with a number of demonstrations in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and Louisville, Kentucky. In the July gathering, three people were wounded when a firearm accidentally discharged ahead of the march.In just two days, May 28, it will be the one year anniversary since protests first filled the streets of Louisville in response to the deaths of Taylor, George Floyd and more. He has also seemed to flirt with Holocaust denial. Moore Park in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 5, 2020. (Don't worry, its temporary), Challenges to books at Ky. libraries tripled in 2022 amid national jump in attempted bans, How the Telugu immigrant community is instilling their culture in the next generation, Richmond, Ind., residents sue owner of property where massive industrial fire occurred, This Mt. The group is called the Not F---ing Around Coaliton (NFAC). I was there to escort Walter Scotts mother into the funeral. He said he was an ordained minister at the time. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic. The best evidenceincluding court recordssuggests that he turned 57 in December. (If he is wrong, its only because a Black militia that attempted to storm Congress would have been fired upon by law enforcement long before it penetrated the Capitol.) A JEFFERSON COUNTY GRAND JURY CHARGED JOHNSON WITH 5 COUNTS OF. The United States, he thinks, has failed to show the same backbone in reckoning with its crimes against Black people. On August 21, 2017, he witnessed the total eclipse of the sun while standing outside the city hall of Carbondale, Illinois. So far, that is all they do. Additionally, hes a former director of a global cloud integration practice and solutions architect, according to his campaign site. The tradition of armed resistance persisted even as the civil-rights movement succeeded by rejecting this fearful symmetry: Martin Luther King Jr., Bayard Rustin, and John Lewis showed that Black people without guns were much more formidable. John Grandmaster Jay Johnson lives in West Chester and leads NFAC, which stands for the Not F***ing Around Coalition. RELATED: NFAC leader 'Grandmaster Jay' facing state charges after allegedly pointing gun at officers Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. According to the affidavit in support of his indictment in Louisville, he was arrested in 1995 for punching a woman in the face, and for menacing a man with a 20-gauge shotgun. But Im not. You mentioned time travel and you mentioned alien spacecraft, I said. It allegedly happened just after 8:30 p.m., as officers were conducting surveillance of demonstrators at Jefferson Square in downtown Louisville. Unless you have a deep, personal, hands-on experience with the past.. Were watching. This strategic stand-down was not entirely voluntary, of course. He said yes, but I pressed him to continue. How can you get even 1 million armed followers if just a few years ago you were a failed DJ and now you believe that San Pellegrino will give you preternatural mental powers? Ann Thompson has decades of journalism experience in the Greater Cincinnati market and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting. His group, armed with guns, moved into Louisville twice in the wake of Breonna Taylor's death for what they described as peaceful formations: Once in July and again the day before the 2020 Kentucky Derby in September.In December, Johnson was federally charged for pointing a rifle at Louisville Metro Police Department officers, FBI and Secret Service agents, who were on top of the Jefferson County Grand Jury Building. CRAWFORD | Not skipping ahead: Setting the scene for Kentucky Derby 149, will Forte reign? Later, Jay said he had only two MOSs. Ive lived five different lives, he told me, enigmatically. We dont come to chant. In Jay, NFAC followers have a leader who conjured an army ex nihilo, announced a Black uprising in multiple American cities, and somehow got away with it for months. John "Grandmaster Jay" Johnson is the founder and leader of the "Not F***ing Around Coalition," or NFAC. Too much talking. WebJohn Fitzgerald Johnson, also known as Grand Master Jay and John Jay Fitzgerald Johnson, claims leadership of the group and has stated that it is composed of "ex military shooters." Nor do most Americanslet alone most Black Americanswant to establish a racially pure state, even somewhere other than Wyoming. Its leader, Grandmaster Jay, whose real name is John Fitzgerald Johnson, retained the cocky, steel-eyed confidence that has made him a messiah to tens of thousands of Black Americans. The first thing they have to do is submit their information to us via email, the Supreme Leader explains. He said that the NFAC was born out of the atmosphere created by Donald Trump, not out of a spiritual revelation. PHOTOS. In his view, January 6 demonstrated that the NFAC is an appropriate response to a country shameless in its hypocrisy: If a disorderly white militia can sack the Capitol and get away with it, on what basis could one object to an orderly Black militia that obeys the law? He was an independent candidate for U.S. president in 2016 and has stated: When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. He told me that he spent four years in the Army in Germany, where he revised his racial self-understanding. From that point on, he was spitting knowledge on social media, much of it about alien spacecraft (visitors) and odd phenomena he noticed in the sky. In 2020, however, it showed up in larger numbers (Jay claims thousands, but hundreds seems more realistic) at protests over Confederate monuments and over the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia; at protests over the police shooting of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky; and at protests over the police shooting of Trayford Pellerin in Lafayette, Louisiana. I was caught up in all thatI, too, was waving signs and chanting, he said. He is due back in court in February. But even those who originally joined with peaceful intent can become jaded, given enough time, injustice, and absentee leadership. There is no problem. In the July gathering, three people were wounded when a firearm was accidentally discharged ahead of the march. NFAC leader Grand Master Jay saw a major victory in court this week. Tommie Shelby, a professor of African American studies and philosophy at Harvard, noted that these ideas have precursors in Black political thought. We dont come to chant. Instead they stand, like a praetorian guard for some unseen emperor. Members of the NFAC also stood their ground in Louisville after the death of Breonna Taylor. All rights reserved. On his YouTube channel, Jay posted a video of his troops in formation, and local news stations ran aerial shots. Jay has terrible ideas, and in ordinary circumstances most people would identify them as crazy and reject them. In 2008, according to the Anti-Defamation League, there were more than 500 militia groups, and the uptick in heavily armed protesters sincehas resulted in clashes aroundthe COVID-19 pandemic, keeping Trump in office, and police brutality. My time is scarce, he said, making aggressive eye contact. Everythings upside down; the world a year ago is completely 180 degrees from where you are now and people are just blundering through it without realizing that youre living in an alternate timeline. Unlike the NFAC, they were flagrantly breaking the law and, for a time at least, getting away with it. In a probable cause hearing on Wednesday, a judge decided that the state case surrounding that incident should head to a grand jury. He is lithe enough to pass for being in his mid-40s. HOME. One of the first places NFAC went was Georgia after Ahmaud Arbery's death. According to the documents, the FBI reviewed the surveillance video from the incident, which consisted of real-time crime center camera footage. He named four but refused to identify the fifth. CONTACT GMJ. On January 6, the NFAC had no presence in Washington: The District of Columbia does not allow open carry of weapons. WebGrandmaster Jay, the outspoken leader of the NFAC, has been convicted. You figure that part out, youll figure out everything that Im talking about.. Jay said he does not admire or imitate any Black activists from previous generationshe protested when I suggested a comparison to the Black Panthers, whose aesthetic the NFAC has obviously ripped offbut was quick to defend the Jamaican political thinker and activist Marcus Garvey, who called for Black self-sufficiency and attempted to found a homeland for Black people. Amid explosive racial tensions, the vast majority of the NFACs visibility is a product of social mediaparticularly Instagram. The Ohio Newsroom: A Public Media Collaboration, Reds TV changes could come by end of this week, Updated report shows Springfield Township officer's speed in deadly March crash, O'Bryonville changes its name to O'Piggyville.
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