Jay said the accusations were a misunderstanding, but he also suggested to me, in a peculiar and indirect way, that he had made certain mistakes. 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. North Carolina The crime he is now charged with is a real onepointing guns at cops is illegal and wrongbut poor muzzle discipline and poor judgment are universal at armed protests, and I suspect that other armed protesters have performed equally negligent acts and gotten little more than a dirty look and a chewing out from the cops. In early December, the FBI raided his apartment and arrested him on charges that, during a September demonstration in Louisville, he pointed a rifle at federal agents, blinding them with its mounted light. He is a former rapper, producer and disc jockey. SSGT Served from 1972 - 1994 Served in Royal Green Jackets. In our conversation, though, he made no direct reference to the mass murder of Jews and others, or to the lessons of totalitarian fascism. John Fitzgerald Johnson, who also is known as Grandmaster Jay, is the enigmatic founder of the Not Fucking Around Coalition. After the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, overtly racist legislation was replaced with other means to deter Black communities from arming themselves. It was the latest rally of the Not Fucking Around Coalition, an armed group that says its dedicated to protecting Black lives from police brutality. Court-issued social media bans arent common, but theyre not unheard of, Cotter said. If we cant get to you, were gonna go after your family members. They had continued on to Yellowstone. In the 1960s, the FBI infiltrated the Black Panther Party, whose supporters publicly carried firearms on neighborhood patrols to ensure police didnt harass Black residents. In a Dec. 11 interview posted on YouTube, Johnson said he is fighting both cases. Unless you have a deep, personal, hands-on experience with the past.. Established in 2017, the group aims to protect, self-police and educate African-American communities on firearms and their constitutional rights and to establishment of a separate blacknation potentially in Texas, United States. John Fitzgerald Johnson (Oldham County Detention Center). Miss Universe 2021 Very interesting, Jay said, speaking slowly and deliberately for the first time since his performance that night had begun. Wallace, who was involved with extremist and anti-police groups, was charged with murder in connection with the killing of a Florida police officer. He told me that he spent four years in the Army in Germany, where he revised his racial self-understanding. March 3, 2023 6:12 pm. Nobody involved in those incidents has been charged by federal prosecutors, though misdemeanor charges were brought against militia members in Arkansas and Oregon. Doing that means they still own you and last time I checked, were not owned anymore.. [2] He was an independent candidate for U.S. president in 2016[8] and has stated: "We are a Black militia. While he achieved limited success in his lifetime, he is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Thailand John Fitzgerald Johnson was a 2016 independent candidate for president. That evening, a team of Louisville Police officers took up a position on the roof of a government building, the complaint states. If the NFAC had done what these folks did, Jay said, theyd still be bringing the body bags out of the Capitol. Johnson, who is a leader of a Black militia, led the group through a march in the September 2020 Breonna Taylor protests in Louisville twice. He is a former soldier, a failed political candidate, a hip-hop DJ, a rambling egotist, and a prolific self-promoter. A few NFAC members, most from out of town, milled around or posted up as security guards against couples strolling by and the occasional bass-thumping low-rider. Right: A protester carries his rifle at the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, on April 30, 2020. . NFAC members and others marched to the Kentucky Derby to call for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by Louisville police officers during a no-knock raid at her apartment on March 13, 2020. While Johnson was named in one of these statements, that does not guarantee Johnson authorized the filing or actively campaigned. One of NFACs female members had reported a sexual advance from a man in the group, and Grandmaster Jay was having none of it. Most people do not think it sensible to channel their justified rage by buying an AR-15 and joining a cultlike paramilitary organization. Instagram removed his account several months after he was charged, he said, cutting him off from 125,000 followers. ", "An all-Black group is arming itself and demanding change. 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. Ive seen for myself, he said. A man calling himself Grandmaster Jay has raised a disciplined, heavily armed militia. ", Grandmaster Flash, an acclaimed DJ whose rap groupis in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, weighed in on Facebook in 2013: "who is Grandmaster Jay? Required fields are marked *. Grandmaster Jay disavowed Wallace, saying he had left NFAC months before. Worked for GE. At one point, Grandmaster Jay gathered a dozen or so women off to the side. They have also lived in Vero Beach, FL and Arden, NC. The NFAC leader has been arrested twice, according to prosecutors. These people are screaming our name while theyre resisting," he said, although no such screams have been independently documented. Former Col.. While his organization has marched peacefully and respectfully, he said, mostly white groups have intimidated protesters and barged into government buildings carrying weapons, with little interference from police. From slave uprisings in the 1800s to the Black Panthers in the 1960s to NFAC in 2020, the game plan is always the same, said Arjun Sethi, an author and law professor at Georgetown University Law Center. The documents also outline Johnsons military history. The shotgun projectiles hit the ground, then ricocheted and hit three people. Over that weekend in Louisville, Grandmaster Jay laid out NFACs mission, saying his primary goal is to educate Black Americans about their constitutional rights. (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.) Yet it is rarely good news when you learn that a sectarian racist is raising an army, stockpiling weapons, demanding total loyalty, and suggesting that he is a messiah. Jay speaks prophetically, and sometimes apocalyptically. In court documents and interviews, Grandmaster Jay said his occasional angry outbursts shouldnt outweigh the hundreds of times he has argued for self-defense, peaceful protest, and resorting to violence only as a last resort. John Fitzgerald's Post . [21] Louisville police in riot gear helped to facilitate the maintenance of space between the groups. But Jay did not raise a militia by cultivating a tranquil persona, and the NFAC members who heeded his call at his craziest moments will not wait forever for him to revoke his stand-down order and recover his insanity. A Black militia that marched in Louisville after the shooting of Breonna Taylor is led by a man with connections to the Cincinnati area who documents say was discharged from the Army "under other than honorable conditions, ran for president in 2016 and claimed to be a notable rapper and DJ. John S. Fitzgerald (died 1823) was an American fur trapper who was best-known for leaving Hugh Glass for dead and killing his son after a bear nearly mauled him to death, resulting in Glass tracking down and killing Fitzgerald in a legend of revenge. In the South, white racial terror groups like the Ku Klux Klan offered extrajudicial means to deter Black gun ownership. Last Modified: September 02, 2020 Court Resources. The weapon was an older shotgun that Johnson said would not have been approved for the formation. He cant access social media, cutting him off from perhaps a more powerful weapon. Experts in militia groups confess they know little about the group, but they said these claims are wildly exaggerated. And nothing continues if he deigns it to stop. So stop asking the very people that youre a part of to pay you. 15 Beloved Black Banned Books You Must Read Now [UPDATED], 15 Priceless Black Twitter Moments Worth Remembering. 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. As Jay browsed real estate, he also made overseas allies, he said, in Black-liberation movements in Africa and Europe. Im a student of history, he said. He later claimed to have worked as the director of a global cloud-integration practice and solutions architect. He tried a career as a hip-hop DJ, which took an embarrassing turn when stars including Grandmaster Flash and DJ Jazzy Jeff accused him of plagiarism and rsum exaggeration. Null later was among those arrested in connection with a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. In addition to angry videos he recorded in the wake of Floyds murder, the NFAC leader attracted attention last summer when he called on his followers to burn Louisville down if Taylors killers werent arrested within four weeks. Ultimate Fighting Championship My time is scarce, he said, making aggressive eye contact. Eduard Folayang And it got the attention of experts who track extremist movements. He has also seemed to flirt with Holocaust denial. He served as a State Senator, a U.S. Rapper. Public order is the hostage of the most radical gunman present. Documents show that Palmetto State Armory has paid the firm Nelson Mullins to push the levers of power in D.C. contradicting the hard-edged brand the company promotes to gun buyers. Rapper. In 2003, he was accused of using a rifle to threaten his then-wife and a man with whom Grandmaster Jay said she was having an affair. Photos from the funeral show Jay wearing an Anglican-style clerical collar and holding Judy Scotts left arm. 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. number 02-2376 appellant John Fitzgerald Johnson appellee State of Florida note fbbe No. Between the All-Star break and the NHL trade deadline, teams completed 65 deals in all far higher than the usual amount of moves in a sport known more for long-term security than risky business. The moment of fealty, in a day marked by a sense of confusion and disappointment, provided an unfiltered window into how NFAC operates. I was there to escort Walter Scotts mother into the funeral. He said he was an ordained minister at the time. More. If we cant get them, were gonna go after your co-workers. Back Submit. Some wore body armor, others had gas masks. Legal and Governance Advisor. Died: 3 August, 2015, in Newmarket, Suffolk, aged 63. The Enquirer reached out to Johnson through two email addresses associated with him. [5][6] It denies any connection to the Black Panther Party or Black Lives Matter. [16], Johnson stated that NFAC provided armed security for the sister of Rayshard Brooks at her request. 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. The website says he "wasa veteran of the Hip Hop game since Day 1" and that he "made a name for himself in the Hip Hop Worldas a rapper, deejay, and producer. No one was injured. In June, police arrested Othal Wallace at a property in Georgia they said was affiliated with NFAC. John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (1863-1950) was a Boston politician and grandfather to President Kennedy. Compare the NFACs military-style discipline, Jay said, with white militias. When you pick up a weapon you go from being a subject to a citizen, just like that, he told the crowd in Louisville in July 2020. (Many still believe this.) The programs, policies, and people driving positive change in Americas gun violence problem. But when you return to your timeline, nothing has changed! He continued. Speaking in Baxter Square, "Not F-king Around Coalition" leader John Fitzgerald Johnson, aka "The Real Grandmaster Jay," specifically threatened to return in four weeks and burn the . His social-media accounts are frozen, and he faces a possible 20-year sentencewhich may or may not be a deterrent, if he thinks his end is near anyway. Nobody was expecting that.. According to Pentagon records, he joined the military in 1989. 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. (He told his YouTube audience that he hated it: You all were the most uncivilized, undisciplined people I had ever seen.) He reenlisted in July 1998, but a year later he faced a court martial for another offense. We sat in Jays SUV, which soon filled with pleasant Cajun aromas from the scallops. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 - December 21, 1940), known professionally as F. Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist and short story writer, whose works illustrate the Jazz Age. Ultimately, Johnson was later found guilty of one count of brandishing a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and one count of assaulting a federal officer. Minnesota Unlike the NFAC, they were flagrantly breaking the law and, for a time at least, getting away with it. Somehow, after all of this, Jay reenlisted that December, this time as an Army reservist. There are a lot of cases where white militia members who are armed get a free pass, said Daryl Johnson, a security consultant and former senior analyst for domestic terrorism at the Department of Homeland Security. When he wants to end a line of questioning, he rocks back, peers over his jet-black sunglasses, and stares you down. Left: NFAC leader Grandmaster Jay (center) leads a march in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 25, 2020, to protest the killing of Breonna Taylor. Here are 13 more things about the NFAC leader: Categories: advocacy, biographical data, crimes, LISTS, North America, Social Issues, United States, Your email address will not be published. Johnson re-enlisted in 1998, the documents say, but went through a court-martial trial and was discharged under other than honorable conditions., Despite that, Johnson was able to re-enlist in December 2003 in an administrative role. Instead, he mentioned that he was impressed by postwar Germanys decision to outlaw Holocaust denial and the glorification of Nazism. John Fitzgerald, 57, worked for Seven West Media for more than 15 years, controlling the group's finances and television programming in 2016. Ive lived five different lives, he told me, enigmatically. One way to understand the NFAC is to imagine what a paramilitary wing of the Black Hebrew Israelites would be like. He lived in Civil District 8, Giles, Tennessee, United States for about 10 years. Its leader is 57-year-old John Fitzgerald Johnson, who calls himself Grandmaster Jay and says he had a career as a rapper, DJ and producer. Du Bois, Jay cut me off to condemn Du Bois as a bourgeois and an enemy to the movement Marcus Garvey started If [Du Bois] was alive today, he would eat his words.. Jay paused. John Fitzgerald Johnson, also known as Grandmaster Jay, is facing charges of "assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers" after allegedly pointing his rifle at U.S. Secret Service and. Like a Rubiks Cube.. The 59-year-old Cincinnati manlegal name John Fitzgerald Johnsonwas sentenced. All lives!). 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. (That might explain his given name: He would have been born just nine days after the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.) The bill received bipartisan support, was backed by the National Rifle Association, and was signed into law by Governor Ronald Reagan in 1967. Donald Trump In 2003, he was federally arrested and convicted of entering a military property, a misdemeanor, according to records. Later, Jay said he had only two MOSs. They joined a group that promised to take a bite out of the Earth and reserve it for Black people. In Kirbys view, the facts are simple: Grandmaster Jay, a man with a criminal history, aimed a gun at law enforcement officers, which is illegal. The United States, he thinks, has failed to show the same backbone in reckoning with its crimes against Black people. But I dont know if that case (against Grandmaster Jay) is emblematic of that.. He previously lived in Virginia, USA and Maryland, USA. MacNab believes federal prosecutors saw an opportunity to target a potentially dangerous group. US black nationalist paramilitary organization, "NFAC" redirects here. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They wore pistols on their belts and carried shotguns and AR-15-style rifles. He also said he had a health scare. I offered him a plastic bib, which he declined. Darren Finley. Las Vegas Enrique Tarrio, the national chairman of the Proud Boys extremist group, continued posting on the messaging service Telegram right up to the day he showed up to serve a jail sentence last month for burning a Black Lives Matter banner. His life. The Legendary Grandmaster Jay DJ/MC aka John Fitzgerald Johnson Grandmaster Jay's Interests & Activities: Social Activism, Writing, Performing Artist, Musical Production, Graphics It was a methodology used to silence a very powerful voice in the world.. The incident took place while various groups were protesting at Jefferson Square Park in . Were investigating how it spends its money. His work includes advising both on residence and domicile matters and the establishment and administration of UK and offshore trust structures. Records and returns of officers' services, WO 67 and WO 76. Black gun ownership in America is steeped in cultural and legal discrimination. Your email address will not be published. He then attempted to disable the bodycam worn by the officer. The criminal complaint indicates the officers did nothing to mitigate the risk Grandmaster Jay apparently posed, Cotter said. By arresting Jay, the government took him out of circulation as a militia leader. Meanwhile, Jay acquired a record of violence. The 57-year-old appeared before a. [13], In 2019, Johnson told the Atlanta Black Star that the organization was formed to prevent another Greensboro Massacre. The NFAC is this privates chance to be a general. Tommie Shelby, a professor of African American studies and philosophy at Harvard, noted that these ideas have precursors in Black political thought. Prosecutors claim Grandmaster Jays posture turned offensive on the evening of Sept. 4, 2020, in downtown Louisville. The cops took his rifles too. Its not Black lives that matter anymore, he tells a crowd in an undated video. This demonstration was sparked after United States Representative Clay Higgins made threats against protesters who showed up armed regarding the shooting of Trayford Pellerin at the hands of police. 12 Fitzgerald continued in his station on the Board until September 6, 1793, when he was elected the company's president for three years. When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. (At some point, he repudiated the Black Lives Matter slogan. Its leader is 57-year-old John Fitzgerald Johnson, who. In the late '70s and early '80s, John worked in Congress as a legislative aide to help strengthen Superfund and staff the Congressional Solar Energy Caucus. Armed self-defense has been around at least since Cyril Briggs, who founded the African Blood Brotherhood in 1919. Jays disarming has occasioned a shift in his emphasis, if not tone. This is like majoring in five different subjects in collegenot technically against the rules, but rare and implausible. When Black folks in America pick up weapons, a different set of rules has always applied. In Louisville, just two hours from where Jay and I sat, the NFAC first revealed the extent of its capabilities. Johnson was also sentenced to 3 years of supervised release upon completion of his term of imprisonment. He swooned during the eclipse, felt a wave of energy, and began preaching the ideas of the NFAC soon after. The group went to Louisville in July and September. John Jay Fitzgerald Johnson aka: Grand master jay, John Johnson, John Fitzgerald. In 2020 and its aftermath, however, there is a greater-than-usual demand for someone who seems to have at least a little skill at propitiating the angry gods. Some sources say he is as young as 50, others as old as 59. Before the rally, according to the criminal complaint, the NFAC leader was warned several times by law enforcement that officers would be stationed on rooftops. He was born in 1970. On a steamy Saturday in late July, Grandmaster Jay strutted around Chickasaw Park in western Louisville. Washington [20] Johnson stated of the site, which is important to the Ku Klux Klan: "Our initial goal was to have a formation of our militia in Stone Mountain to send a message that as long as you're abolishing all these statues across the country, what about this one? These do not sound like promising beginnings for a modern Simn Bolvar or Toussaint LOuverture. Few paid attention until Jay showed up with dozens of armed followers in Georgia last year, and phrased his new beliefs in a militant idiom. He also advises them to destroy police body cameras if they assault cops, to remove evidence. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost . I was caught up in all thatI, too, was waving signs and chanting, he said. Surely, though, there must be limits to what Jays followers can accept. But the desire for action of some kind, acknowledging that Black people are uniquely menaced, is to be expected. After his final discharge, Jay disappeared for several years. The role of the gun industry in Americas gun violence epidemic. Guns are central to NFACs ethos. You all know theyre doing this to break me financially, because theyre going to drag it out, he said in the interview. Were neither left-wing, nor right-wing. Jay said, If I assemble 1 million legal guns, I have the fifth-largest ground army on the planet. He also has significant experience in the use of trusts in a . A year later, NFAC, as the group is known, was back in Louisville. Johnsons lawyer, Murdoch Walker II, commented to the The Courier Journal that the sentencing was a bittersweet day and that it was inevitable. He also shared that they plan to appeal. Federal prosecutors are always trying to dismantle organizations that are perceived to be a threat, whether its a drug cartel or this guy and his organization. His story, and the purpose of Not Fucking Around, became a little more clear, and a little less. Even if true, such threats hardly compare with the actual storming of the Capitol. 10th Aug 2015, 1:00am. Millions Crab is a family restaurant, and on that placid November evening, Jaythe supreme commander of the Not Fucking Around Coalitionwas wearing body armor rated to take a pistol round directly to the chest. NFAC escorted her to a rally in downtown Atlanta in late June. Activists are criticizing the prosecution of John F. Johnson, aka "Grandmaster Jay," on weapons charges, saying they are politically motivated. 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. But I knew he lived near Cincinnati: I had staked out his apartment that afternoon. "[10] Furthermore, in the same interview, Johnson expressed Black Nationalist views, putting forth the view that the United States should either hand the state of Texas over to African-Americans so that they may form an independent country, or allow African-Americans to depart the United States to another country that would provide land upon which to form an independent nation. Since he was arrested, the pandemic has raged and the police reform movement has cooled. She pointed out that white militia groups across the country have been infiltrated, investigated, and prosecuted dozens of times. That movement accomplished nothing, Jay told me, just a lot of singing, a lot of hand-holding, a lot of sentiments and praise.. Anytime someone starts to galvanize people, its the same process: character assassination, then financial assassination through mounting legal bills, then imprisonment, exile, or outright murder. Illinois Were not a shotgun organization. Anyone without a concealed-carry permit must have the clean record necessary to get one. Manuscript army lists, 1702-1823, WO 64. 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. He was previously an investigative reporter at Reveal and has worked as a foreign correspondent in Asia and South America. Johnson is nicknamed Grandmaster Jay. When he met Americans overseas, they tended to interact with one another more as compatriots in exile than as the race enemies they might have been at home. Grandmaster Jay, the leader of a Black pro-gun activist group, will spend the rest of the decade behind bars. Indeed, of the two of us, I was the one who felt sheepish, not because I was wasting his time but because it occurred to me that while I waited, I could have warned the servers that my dining companion was often armed and that he might look as if he had just stepped out of The Matrix. Some of the defendants in the Capitol riot have been barred from social media while they await trial, but others continue to post. They took cover because they perceived a threat, according to the criminal complaint. His website, onlywecanfixus.com, advertised a bid for the White House on an independent ticket. Investigators and prosecutors typically step in when militia members cross a line one that critics and experts argue is arbitrary. I will say it publicly, we wont shoot you we will kill you.. Tennessee John Fitzgerald Johnson found in 1830 United States Federal Census John Fitzgerald Johnson found in U.S. General Land Office Records, 1776-2015 John Fitzgerald Johnson found in U.S. General Land Office Records, 1776-2015 Potential photos and documents Daren Curtis Johnson Daren Curtis Johnson Daren Curtis Johnson Daren Curtis Johnson Patrick Cotter, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago who has practiced criminal law for 40 years, said this is where the governments case gets shaky. The only way to win was to play a different game. When Grandmaster Jay walked into Millions Crab, a seafood joint in suburban Cincinnati, the waitstaff looked alarmed. As Lieutenant at Alameda County, John Fitzgerald Johnson made in total compensation. A protest attendee, not associated with the NFAC, was arrested after accidentally discharging a handgun. Texas According to the application for the search warrant, in a video posted June 5, Johnson stated that the only way to stop police violence is to identify and locate the homes of police, burn the houses to the ground, kill the officers, their family members and associates.. On August 21, 2017, he witnessed the total eclipse of the sun while standing outside the city hall of Carbondale, Illinois. We aren't protesters, we aren't demonstrators. Your tax-deductible donation to The Trace will directly support nonprofit journalism on gun violence and its effects on our communities. John Fitzgerald Johnson, who goes by Grandmaster Jay, greets members and supporters of NFAC during a "Feed the People" event July 24, 2021, at Chickasaw Park in Louisville. You put me back in the cave, he said in an interview with USA TODAY and The Trace. Jay described its recruiting strategy: You must be Black, he said. For the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex, see, Secession in the United States 1980spresent efforts, "What Is the NFAC, and Who Is Grandmaster Jay? A 1995 charge stemming from an incident at a bar was dropped for lack of evidence, according to court documents. Plenty of Trump supporters believed that their man had a mystical ability to outwit his opponents and bend previously unbendable laws of politics. He wouldnt disclose how many members the group has beyond claiming millions of followers worldwide. Were not going to dig into who I am, he said. I thanked Jay for his time, and he thanked me for mine. 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. A woman who identified herself as "Debbie James, Esq." If we cant get them, were gonna go after your church members. Key Data. I'm in your house. 0:00. Thats the kicker. It was in this environment of racial reckoning that NFAC was born. [26][bettersourceneeded], On October 3, over 400 members of the NFAC along with over 200 other armed protesters marched in downtown Lafayette, Louisiana. Prosecutors and the feds have a toolbox of strategies that they can use to go after organized crime, said Mitchel Roth, a professor of criminology at Sam Houston State University.