According to Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young, four other people were at the said property, along with multiple firearms, multiple flashbangs, body armor, and ammunition. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) wrote primarily about Jazz Age culture and society. [7], John Fitzgerald Johnson, also known as Grand Master Jay and John Jay Fitzgerald Johnson, claims leadership of the group[2][8] and has stated that it is composed of "ex military shooters. Im still here because I was cured in a way that defies medicine and changed my entire brain structure. He began eating differently, and drinking alkaline water to reactivate his pineal gland and scrub his system of impurities that were impeding higher abilities. His drink orderSan Pellegrino or filtered tap waterhad spiritual implications. According to court documents, one of its goals is to create a Black "ethnostate." Members carry assault-style rifles during marches. That willingness to use a criminal indictment to clamp down on an organization that threatens the American establishment troubles several experts who have examined Grandmaster Jays case. Of this total $168,845 was received as a salary, was received as benefits and came from other types of compensation . If he does go down, Grandmaster Jay said, he would be the latest in a long line of Black leaders struck down by a system that was biased against him from the start. Records and returns of officers' services, WO 67 and WO 76. In an application for a search warrant, an FBI agent said the NFAC eventually wants to form a new country owned and created by Black people.. But the desire for action of some kind, acknowledging that Black people are uniquely menaced, is to be expected. She pointed out that white militia groups across the country have been infiltrated, investigated, and prosecuted dozens of times. Jay is contesting these allegations in court. US black nationalist paramilitary organization, "NFAC" redirects here. Armed self-defense has been around at least since Cyril Briggs, who founded the African Blood Brotherhood in 1919. Den Fitz. John Fitzgerald Johnson v. State of Florida title John Fitzgerald Johnson v. State of Florida file 02-2376.pdf (49 kB) date. Jessica Koscielniak . Grandmaster Jay called on prosecutors to drop the charges and allow him to sign back on to social media. Donald Trump AGE View Full Report AGE Phone Address We sat in Jays SUV, which soon filled with pleasant Cajun aromas from the scallops. He faces three to 27 years in prison if convicted of the charges. Military experience is preferred, Jay said, and would-be coalition members must have their own AR-style rifle. China The United Patriots Of America was founded December 2001 in response to 911 New York City [27] Johnson along with other speakers gave speeches at the Parc San Souci, urging members to continue protesting. He was told not to let anybody point their weapons at them. BHM-CareerTimeline-Johnson_stories_v3.mp4 . Jay previously argued that Black people, exercising their constitutional rights to speak and pack heat, would be treated differently from white people doing the same. but records show he served in the Virginia National Guard and the Army from 1989 . The officers didnt respond the way police officers are trained: by raising their weapons and informing the assailant to lower his gun, or shooting him, Cotter said. In Louisville, just two hours from where Jay and I sat, the NFAC first revealed the extent of its capabilities. John Jay Fitzgerald Johnson aka: Grand master jay, John Johnson, John Fitzgerald. Left: William Null stands in the gallery of the Michigan Senate Chamber during the American Patriot Rally, organized by Michigan United for Liberty on April 30, 2020, in Lansing, to protest coronavirus restrictions. Jay had run out of boilerplate. He also said he had a health scare. It was in this environment of racial reckoning that NFAC was born. They had continued on to Yellowstone. He served as a State Senator, a U.S. (At some point, he repudiated the Black Lives Matter slogan. LOUISVILLE, Ky. John "Grandmaster Jay" Johnson, leader of the "Not F***ing Around Coalition" that visited Louisville several times last year for protests over the death of Breonna . A judge has barred Grandmaster Jay from possessing a gun while he awaits trial. He is lithe enough to pass for being in his mid-40s. On a steamy Saturday in late July, Grandmaster Jay strutted around Chickasaw Park in western Louisville. Jays military career, like most things about him, is strange. In 2006, he was again formally discharged "under other than honorable conditions, the documents say. Jay paused. Sign up for Yahoo Lifes daily newsletter, Women who had ovarian cysts share their stories, Why 'Love Is Blind' star Deepti Vempati didn't talk about her eating disorder with her family, Christina Aguilera says stigma 'that it's shameful to get older' in the public eye makes her 'really sad'. John Fitzgerald Johnson Overview. This salary is 189 percent higher than average and 224 percent higher than median salary in Alameda County. 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. He is a former soldier, a failed political candidate, a hip-hop DJ, a rambling egotist, and a prolific self-promoter. I dont have to justify my experiences in my position to anyone.). In 2003, he was federally arrested and convicted of entering a military property, a misdemeanor, according to records. 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. [23] On July 20, preceding the event, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Louisville Metro Council President David James had a phone conversation with Johnson, which the AG's office described as "productive". Philippines Johnson reported that two of those hit were checked by medics and cleared to continue to participate in the formation. One man with NFAC ties has turned violent. In Grandmaster Jays case, prosecutors used the officers accounts as the basis of the charges lodged against him three months later. Thats the kicker. The weapon was an older shotgun that Johnson said would not have been approved for the formation. 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. Enmegahbowh (c. 1820-1902), also known as John Johnson, first Native American Episcopal priest. 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. Photos from the funeral show Jay wearing an Anglican-style clerical collar and holding Judy Scotts left arm. Everyone there knew why: Months after a second rally in Louisville, Grandmaster Jay had been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers while brandishing a firearm. Unlike the NFAC, they were flagrantly breaking the law and, for a time at least, getting away with it. Nevada 6 min read. Guns are central to NFACs ethos. [31][32] He was later federally indicted the following year on February 24, 2021, and has since been found guilty. No longer can he use his twice-daily Instagram shows to rouse hundreds of troops with impassioned calls to arms. Born on May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy (known as Jack) was the second of nine children. 13 Afterwards, both Washington and Fitzgerald remained involved in the affairs of the Potomac Company, with their last . 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? The NFAC leader has been arrested twice, according to prosecutors. 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. More. Meanwhile, white supremacist groups flourished and hate crimes against nonwhite victims rose. Back Submit. Prosecutors claim Grandmaster Jays posture turned offensive on the evening of Sept. 4, 2020, in downtown Louisville. Some state constitutions contain clauses stating that such groups are illegal; others go as far as banning certain types of activity, like drills and marching in formation. 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. Somehow, after all of this, Jay reenlisted that December, this time as an Army reservist. A week prior, she went viral online shortly after a video was released of her criticizing the local city commissioners for choosing profits over people as well as her push for the Police Chief Rick Smith to resign. 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. Were defensive, and we always have been.. 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. Grandmaster Jay, the leader of a Black pro-gun activist group, will spend the rest of the decade behind bars. Died: 3 August, 2015, in Newmarket, Suffolk, aged 63. Worked for GE. He claimed to have enlisted the Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group that has been blowing up pipelines and other infrastructure in Nigeria, as part of his coalition, which will eventually be the military backbone of the UBKN. Explore the latest videos from hashtags: #johnfitzgerald, #geraldjohnson, #jhonfitzgerald, # . The charges were eventually dropped. Five years ago, when he filed with the Federal Election Commissionto run for president as an independent, he listed an address in Reading. 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 . The Legendary Grandmaster Jay DJ/MC aka John Fitzgerald Johnson Grandmaster Jay's Interests & Activities: Social Activism, Writing, Performing Artist, Musical Production, Graphics In late July 2020, as Louisville, Kentucky, fumed in the wake of Breonna Taylors killing in a botched police raid, a militia group descended on the city. 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.). But even those who originally joined with peaceful intent can become jaded, given enough time, injustice, and absentee leadership. There is no parole in the federal system.. [25] The NFAC said that the discharge occurred when a person who was not yet admitted into the formation collapsed from heat exhaustion and fired her weapon into the ground. Will Carless covers extremism and emerging issues nationwide for USA Today. [5][6] It denies any connection to the Black Panther Party or Black Lives Matter. Brave CF Hes a dangerous man, they say, who commands an army of agitators. Beyond his incendiary speeches, Grandmaster Jay has drawn fire for pejorative comments, includingantisemitism. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Rapper. It was a methodology used to silence a very powerful voice in the world.. That includes defending it. Were not a shotgun organization. Anyone without a concealed-carry permit must have the clean record necessary to get one. Tokyo John MacKnight Fitzgerald coordinates the legal and governmental strategy for Methane Action. We dont call police pigs. Were not out to get anyone. 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. 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. 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. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost . John Johnson (clergyman) (1769-1833), Church of England clergyman, poet, and editor. After Jays arrest in December, he ordered his followers into a stand-down position. The militias that the NFAC opposes, such as the Oath Keepers, were active during December and Januaryand because of their presence at the storming of the Capitol, they now feel the heat of law enforcement. Before the war. He cant access social media, cutting him off from perhaps a more powerful weapon. LORD John . He was appointed to D3 Depot with the rank of Private on 2 July, and on 13 July was posted to the 12th Reinforcements for the 2nd Pioneer Battalion. You all know theyre doing this to break me financially, because theyre going to drag it out, he said in the interview. He talked about acquiring land from various African leaders and eventually being part of the United Nations. Report this post Report Report. When Black folks in America pick up weapons, a different set of rules has always applied. The Enquirer reached out to Johnson through two email addresses associated with him. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic. Brazil In April 2020, eight months before Grandmaster Jays arrest, armed militia members occupied the Michigan State Capitol building. The food was two hours late. The location of this new country is negotiable, and as a model he considered Wyoming, because of its cheap land. That movement accomplished nothing, Jay told me, just a lot of singing, a lot of hand-holding, a lot of sentiments and praise.. If you kill us, we will kill you, point fing blank, he said in a video. Your tax-deductible donation will directly support nonprofit journalism on gun violence and its effects on our communities. If we cant get them, were gonna go after your church members. Grandmaster Jay organizes NFAC members as they rally on July 25, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky, to protest the killing of Breonna Taylor. You wont get that from me. He said he wasnt from the Midwest. Indonesia Null later was among those arrested in connection with a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. 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. 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. We dont come to sing, Jay told a reporter from Newsweek. Following the Louisville protests, Johnson was said to have pointed his AR-15 rifle toward a roof where a Secret Service agent, an FBI agent, and three local officers had been stationed. Grandmaster Jay wont talk much about what happened that night, though he said he had a flashlight mounted to his rifle, which he usually carries pointed upwards. His life, career, and legacy assisted and influenced the . After military service as commander of Motor Torpedo Boats PT-109 and PT-59 during World War II in the South Pacific, Kennedy represented Massachusetts' 11th . Its leader is 57-year-old John Fitzgerald Johnson, who. Johnson brandished an AR-15 platform rifle and tactical flashlight at two federally deputized Task Force Officers. The men and women are ragtag and amateur, and their uniforms are not, well, uniform. The group is called the Not F---ing Around Coaliton (NFAC). We need our own culture. Your email address will not be published. In online videos, Grandmaster Jay has called for his followers to meet police and white supremacist violence with violence. We report stories that would go untold. [29], On November 2, Kansas City-based activist Keiajah Brooks announced via Twitter that she was under protection from the NFAC after multiple alleged instances of harassment committed by officers from the Kansas City Police Department. According to Pentagon records, he joined the military in 1989. In an attempt to curtail the security threat posed by Black slaves, the nation instituted race-based gun laws, many of which banned free and enslaved Black people from possessing firearms. Recently, white members of militia groups have been charged after bringing weapons to demonstrations and altercations around the country. After basic training, the Army assigns every soldier a military occupational specialty, or MOS: 11B is an infantryman, 94S is a Patriot system repairer, 12K is a plumber. My people will defend themselves if attacked. There was also widespread online criticism of Grandmaster Jay, after he appeared as The Legendary Grandmaster Jay in a 2013 online ad for a DJ product. He named civil rights leaders who got the attention of a nation and even spoke with the president of the United States: The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. It also has organized armed marches in two towns in Georgia, Washington, D.C. and Lafayette, Louisiana, the documents say. As a veteran (US Army) he has defended his country against all enemies foreign and domestic! 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. 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 wore pistols on their belts and carried shotguns and AR-15-style rifles. Right: Grandmaster Jay meets with media near Churchill Downs on Sept. 4, 2020, the day before the Kentucky Derby, in Louisville, Kentucky. Were neither left-wing, nor right-wing. It certainly wouldnt surprise me at all if there would be disparate treatment of a Black militia and a white militia, McCord said. He told the women to go to him with any complaints. In 1985, MOVE, a Black armed collective living in a Philadelphia row house, was bombed by a police helicopter after the mayor declared the group a terrorist organization. Ordained minister. 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. Despite these travailsor because of themJay modeled the NFAC on the military in which he had served. Activists decry Grandmaster Jay's 7-year prison sentence. We dont have an enemy, per se. Massachusetts He spoke vaguely of NFACs founding, confirming only that the first public appearance by the group was in May 2019 in Dayton, Ohio, to protest a Ku Klux Klan rally. I had five MOSs, Jay said. Some people come to change the world, he said, and some come to end it all. The latter, he implied, are unwelcome in the NFAC and have to be screened out. Johnson. He died on 4 August 1976, in Birmingham, Jefferson, Alabama, United States, at . [11][12] In April 2021 Johnson expanded on this notion, telling The Atlantic that the intention of the NFAC was to establish the "United Black Kemetic Nation", a strictly black ethno-state. Legal and Governance Advisor. The moment of fealty, in a day marked by a sense of confusion and disappointment, provided an unfiltered window into how NFAC operates. Ex 2016 Presidential candidate, founder of NFAC Not Fucking Around Coalition leads. I thanked Jay for his time, and he thanked me for mine. You mentioned time travel and you mentioned alien spacecraft, I said. No officer is trained that if you see a guy pointing a high-powered rifle at your head, the thing to do is to duck and then, some time later, swear out a complaint that he was intimidating you.. He lived in Civil District 8, Giles, Tennessee, United States for about 10 years. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The group went to Louisville in July and September. Followers of his teachings, he said, would be the first to tell you nothing that I have predicted has not come true. In October, on YouTube, he told his soldiers, At this point, I dont think Ill be joining you all too much longer. We don't come to sing, we don't come to chant. A year later, NFAC, as the group is known, was back in Louisville. That summer, as communities around the country protested police brutality, especially against Black Americans, NFAC showed up at demonstrations throughout the South. After George Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the NFAC leader issued a threat apparently directed at officers like him. Black radicals will always inspire a level of fear that wont be the same as when white militias arm themselves.. Jay offers a remedy prepackaged and ready to deliver. They were there to observe a group of six to eight heavily armed individuals, one of whom they recognized as Grandmaster Jay. 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. In 2020 and 2021, these armed groups almost exclusively white paraded across the nation, opposed Black Lives Matter demonstrations, and offered themselves as security at political rallies for former President Donald Trump and other Republican politicians. Investigators were looking for the rifle Johnson allegedly used in Louisville. After the murder of Walter Scott by a North Charleston police officer, he appeared at the side of Scotts family. The guns were nowhere to be seen. Eventually, it intends to establish a racially pure country called the United Black Kemetic Nation. Unlike white militias, which feed off misinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories, the fuel for NFACs fire has been on display for anyone to see. 12/26/02. Jays disarming has occasioned a shift in his emphasis, if not tone. A lot of times when people talk about time travel, they always run into the paradigm If you change something in the past, then youll screw up your present. Jay shook his head. Nothing happens within the organization without Grandmaster Jays say-so. All 50 states outlaw the existence of armed militias that arent authorized by the government. NFAC shows up and decide they want to wipe us all outwere gone in seconds., These are volatile situations, Amy Iandiorio, an investigative researcher for the Anti-Defamation Leagues Center on Extremism, told me when I asked her about the NFAC. 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. The shotgun projectiles hit the ground, then ricocheted and hit three people. Johnson described the groups long-term goals in an interview with media during the September protests in Louisville. Kevin Belingon Because of Jays patrilineal theory of race, he would presumably recognize a smaller number still.). Just remember that when Im gone, these will be your instructional videos.. Grand Master Jay, or John Fitzgerald Johnson, is accused of pointing an AR-style rifle at federal agents and police officers in downtown Louisville. 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. When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. "[9] Johnson served in the Virginia National Guard and the Army from 1989 to 2006, leaving at the rank of private. He is a former rapper, producer and disc jockey. At events where militia members have gathered, people have been accused of aiming a rifle at Confederate monument protesters in Texas, pointing guns at Black Lives Matter marchers in Arkansas and attempting to invade the Oregon Capitol. The programs, policies, and people driving positive change in Americas gun violence problem. Grandmaster Jay disavowed Wallace, saying he had left NFAC months before. After his final discharge, Jay disappeared for several years. Very interesting, Jay said, speaking slowly and deliberately for the first time since his performance that night had begun. Brazilian MMA fighters 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. NFAC escorted her to a rally in downtown Atlanta in late June. The NFAC leaders real name is John Fitzgerald Johnson. He sat across from me, in front of a platter of scallops and shrimp that had been hot when Id ordered it for him an hour before, when the kitchen was closing.