Open Letter to Mr. Jamal Johnson
Dear Mr. Johnson,
My name is TrueBlackAnonymous. I have been blogging about your son, Umar Johnson, and his activities since October 2016.
I don't know you, Mr. Johnson, but I understand that you are a former United States Marine and an activist. Your service to our country is greatly appreciated and I'm confident that your activism centers around worthy causes.
There is a need to set the public record straight.
Your son, Umar Johnson, first came to my attention when he was mentioned in a book I read. One of the things that caught my attention is that Umar claimed he was going to build a boarding school kind of school especially for Black boys and he was asking for donations. Although I thought the idea was a very good one, I didn't donate because I wanted to see some concrete plans. Concrete plans never came.
Certainly, one of the "claims to fame," as it were, that Umar insisted upon is that he was first a descendant, then a relative, of Frederick Douglass by way of Stephen Henry Bailey. The family of Frederick Douglass, as I understand it, has never heard of Umar Johnson. They became aware of him when people were approaching the family organization about money and a school. The family nor the family organization knew nothing of this. The family made two public statements about Umar Johnson, both statements insisting that Umar Johnson, and by extension, you, Mr. Johnson, aren't related to the Bailey/Douglass family.
Many have suggested that a DNA test and/or a professional genealogist would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt whether you and your son are related to the Bailey family. One of those people is John Muller, an author, researcher and Douglassonian. Another person who suggested DNA testing was the brother Dr. Mukasa Afrika Ma'at. I'm sure that there are others.
After all, it only makes sense. As the popular saying goes, DNA doesn't lie.
So, you, Mr. Johnson, I'm told, recently did a DNA test and had your results compared to two verified members of the Bailey/Douglass family, Tarence Bailey and Ken Morris, Jr. There was no DNA match between you and Tarence Bailey and there was no DNA match between you and Ken Morris, Jr.
As Umar might say...FACTS!
Everyone knows that Umar Johnson used an alleged family relationship to the Bailey family, most recently outlined on the Roland Martin show, to launch his public "career." Now, Mr. Johnson, in my humble view, it is time to put this thing to bed, so to speak, once and for all.
I ask that you come clean to the public and let them know that your son is not related to the family of Frederick Douglass.
However, Mr. Johnson, it doesn't appear that you wish to do this. In fact, on your Facebook page, there is a post asking for a professional to analyze DNA results and for professional genealogy services AFTER you received results of the DNA test and AFTER you were offered resources for genealogy services.
I'm no scientist, but it seems that DNA is the same, no matter who tests it. DNA tells the truth, not what one wants to be the truth. Now there's a chance that people can be "family" without having blood relationships, in the case of adoption, or longstanding generational relationships between families. We all have someone we call "uncle," "auntie," or "cousin" even though there's no blood relationship.
But that is not Umar Johnson's claim regarding the Bailey family. He's recorded himself saying that "the blood that ran through Frederick Douglass's veins runs in my veins."
It is interesting to note that your son, Umar Johnson, who is supposedly a scholar, did not research the claims he's made about his relationship to the Bailey family.
The Bailey family representatives, out of respect for you, gave you an opportunity to come clean. And it looks like you haven't.
Mr. Johnson, please help the public by doing the right thing. After all, your son has done a great deal of damage to our people and bamboozled the Black community out of a lot of money-between $700,000 and $1,000,000 dollars-in large part by using the Bailey family name. I believe you know this is wrong.
Mr. Johnson, if you really care about the Black community, do the right thing.
Thank you.
DarTrueblackanonymous You Tube Channel
@BLKAnonymous
My name is TrueBlackAnonymous. I have been blogging about your son, Umar Johnson, and his activities since October 2016.
I don't know you, Mr. Johnson, but I understand that you are a former United States Marine and an activist. Your service to our country is greatly appreciated and I'm confident that your activism centers around worthy causes.Your son, Umar Johnson, first came to my attention when he was mentioned in a book I read. One of the things that caught my attention is that Umar claimed he was going to build a boarding school kind of school especially for Black boys and he was asking for donations. Although I thought the idea was a very good one, I didn't donate because I wanted to see some concrete plans. Concrete plans never came.
Certainly, one of the "claims to fame," as it were, that Umar insisted upon is that he was first a descendant, then a relative, of Frederick Douglass by way of Stephen Henry Bailey. The family of Frederick Douglass, as I understand it, has never heard of Umar Johnson. They became aware of him when people were approaching the family organization about money and a school. The family nor the family organization knew nothing of this. The family made two public statements about Umar Johnson, both statements insisting that Umar Johnson, and by extension, you, Mr. Johnson, aren't related to the Bailey/Douglass family.
Many have suggested that a DNA test and/or a professional genealogist would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt whether you and your son are related to the Bailey family. One of those people is John Muller, an author, researcher and Douglassonian. Another person who suggested DNA testing was the brother Dr. Mukasa Afrika Ma'at. I'm sure that there are others.
After all, it only makes sense. As the popular saying goes, DNA doesn't lie.
As Umar might say...FACTS!
Everyone knows that Umar Johnson used an alleged family relationship to the Bailey family, most recently outlined on the Roland Martin show, to launch his public "career." Now, Mr. Johnson, in my humble view, it is time to put this thing to bed, so to speak, once and for all.
I ask that you come clean to the public and let them know that your son is not related to the family of Frederick Douglass.
However, Mr. Johnson, it doesn't appear that you wish to do this. In fact, on your Facebook page, there is a post asking for a professional to analyze DNA results and for professional genealogy services AFTER you received results of the DNA test and AFTER you were offered resources for genealogy services.
I'm no scientist, but it seems that DNA is the same, no matter who tests it. DNA tells the truth, not what one wants to be the truth. Now there's a chance that people can be "family" without having blood relationships, in the case of adoption, or longstanding generational relationships between families. We all have someone we call "uncle," "auntie," or "cousin" even though there's no blood relationship.But that is not Umar Johnson's claim regarding the Bailey family. He's recorded himself saying that "the blood that ran through Frederick Douglass's veins runs in my veins."
It is interesting to note that your son, Umar Johnson, who is supposedly a scholar, did not research the claims he's made about his relationship to the Bailey family.
The Bailey family representatives, out of respect for you, gave you an opportunity to come clean. And it looks like you haven't.
Mr. Johnson, please help the public by doing the right thing. After all, your son has done a great deal of damage to our people and bamboozled the Black community out of a lot of money-between $700,000 and $1,000,000 dollars-in large part by using the Bailey family name. I believe you know this is wrong.
Mr. Johnson, if you really care about the Black community, do the right thing.
Thank you.
No one else finds it ironic that Mr. Johnson marches on behalf of the same poor people his son lies to?
DarTrueblackanonymous You Tube Channel
@BLKAnonymous
Excellent letter, but don't expect an answer. Jamal Johnson posted a video on YouTube over a month ago, claiming he would do the research and come back with his results. Just today (6/23/18), I tried to find the video only to see that it has been taken down. Jamal is a damned fraud too! He must have been getting money from Umar or Umar promised him money and didn't deliver. That to me would explain his attempts to sort-of discredit his son, but not come out directly and tell the world he is a fraud. The link to the video was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vouUYlR2yyM&t=586s. If you try to go to this link, you will find the video has been taken down. He is hoping that people will forget what he said. The fruit does not fall too far from the tree.
ReplyDeleteWell it looks like it worked! I can respect him for doing the right thing, even though I'm sure it was not easy to own up to after all this time. The next actions will be how Umar is going to try to spin this and make seem as though he is still related to the Douglass family. I guess time will tell.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how Umar can spin this. After all, to paraphrase Tarence Bailey...the DNA don't play. The only thing Umar might try to do is find someone else to be "related" to. Can't you just hear Umar spinning some super-fantastic story about how he's related to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Haile Selassiee and assorted members of the Spinners? LOL!
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