Why So Many of Us Are So Willing to Be Led by ‘Ain’t Shit’ Men, Explained

He is your least favorite Facebook friend’s favorite “educator.” He also recently joined an exclusive club with Omarosa Manigault Newman.

The Niggas Without Jobs Who Still Somehow Got Fired This Month Club. They meet every Tuesday at Bruegger’s Bagels to play Connect Four.

He didn’t get fired, per se, as much as he’s currently under investigation by Pennsylvania’s State Board of Psychology for being a fraud.

Not at all. Possessed with the spirit of Frederick Douglass—who’s apparently Johnson’s 19th step-cousin on his great-great-grandmama’s pet goldfish’s side—he’s going to fight these rumors and allegations, and his considerable fan base will continue to follow and support him.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Same guy.

You don’t have to. Type his name in a Facebook or YouTube or Twitter search box and you’ll find thousands of people armed with bizarre pro-Umar takes, lugging them around like squirrels lug acorns. And if you say his name aloud five times, a quart of ash will jump out of the mirror and stab you with an empty bottle of essential oils.

Well, there are a few things happening here. First is the idea that singular (male) leadership is a requirement for any sort of progress. It’s a concept we’ve been indoctrinated with since birth—that all great things that have happened in history happened because one great man had some great ideas, and the rest of us listened to him. And because of this belief in the singular greatness of the male savior, some of us are willing to overlook obvious and damning flaws and contradictions because that singular greatness must be protected and preserved at all costs.

Also, a byproduct of that singular greatness belief is an equally problematic concept of assumed scarcity. Basically, for Umar Johnson’s supporters, he must be protected and preserved at all costs because there’s no one else with a pro-black message that could fill the void created if he weren’t around.

Never mind the fact that there are hundreds of pro-black educators with legitimate credentials and without the same cemeteries-ful of skeletons in their closets, a list that includes people I personally know (such as Brittney Cooper) and people I haven’t met in person yet but admire (such as Ibram Kendi)—easily accessible academics who are publishing and writing and teaching daily. They are only hard to find if you don’t realize you should be looking for them.

And then of course there’s the fact that many of his followers share the same values. They don’t believe that his opinions about black women and gay people are problematic because, well, they agree. On a larger scale, you saw this with (some) Alabama voters and Roy Moore. They weren’t upset by the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct because they just don’t see anything wrong with grown men pursuing romantic and sexual relationships with teen girls.

Right! It definitely isn’t. What I just said about Umar Johnson could also be said about Donald Trump and thousands more white men who were followed and protected despite proving that they weren’t worthy of that support. There’s no specific pathology that makes black people more susceptible to these charlatans and chicken hawks. Race does matter, though.

In the case of someone like Johnson, it adds another level of faux persecution. Instead of him existing as just a man getting investigated by the state for being a fraud, it’s a black man whose messages of pro-blackness are so explosive, provocative and threatening that the state is conspiring against him. And behind this conspiracy are white people and their black agents. So it becomes a “race” thing instead of a “this nigga ain’t shit” thing.

The school will be built. And by “the school will be built,” I mean “That nigga stole y’all money and spent it on Bigen.”