Umar Johnson

Umar Rashad Ibn Abdullah-Johnson (born Jermaine Shoemake; August 21, 1974), known professionally as Dr. Umar, is an American motivational speaker and author. Johnson has referred to himself as the "prince of Pan-Africanism".

Early life and education Johnson is a native of North Philadelphia. Johnson graduated from Millersville University before graduating in 2012 from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine with a Psy.D. in clinical psychology.

Career Book and documentary appearance In 2011, he was featured on Hidden Colors: The Untold History of People of Aboriginal, Moor, and African Descent, directed by Tariq Nasheed. In 2013, Johnson self-published Psycho-Academic Holocaust: The Special Education & ADHD Wars Against Black Boys, a book in which he contended that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was increasingly misdiagnosed in Black communities and that the American education system used ADHD to stigmatize black children. In a 2017 video clip, Johnson claimed that ADHD and learning disabilities do "not exist".

Social media commentary, activism, and controversies Johnson is most known for his commentary, and his provocative remarks over the years, mostly on race.

In 2018, Johnson said that his main Facebook and GoFundMe accounts had been shut down, but that his Instagram—then with 342,000 followers—remained active. He engaged in a Twitter feud with Feminista Jones, a Philadelphia-based black feminist commentator and activist. He has criticized Black Americans for celebrating Independence Day. It is claimed that Johnson has also baselessly accused the Population Council and Planned Parenthood of "using homosexuality as a population control strategy in the black community". In a 2023 interview on The Breakfast Club radio show, Johnson discouraged Black people from voting, said he had not voted for many years, and described the Democratic Party as "a White, racist institution" that "is just as racist as the Republican Party". In a 2023 interview on Joe Budden's The Joe Budden Podcast, Johnson criticized Black people who believed that Eminem was the greatest rapper of all time, asserting that it "speaks to how psychologically ill we are as a race of people" and "No non-African can ever be the best of anything African. It's an insult to the ancestors. It's an insult to the race".

In social media posts, Johnson has criticized interracial marriage, opposed same-sex marriage, and promoted various conspiracy theories. In 2020, after NFL player DeSean Jackson was disciplined for making antisemitic Instagram posts, Johnson suggested that Jackson's views were valid and that he should not apologize for them. In September 2021, he hosted an Instagram Live where he married two women. This was later revealed to be a fake marriage.

Claim to be a Frederick Douglass relative Johnson has repeatedly claimed to have a familial connection with Frederick Douglass, often claiming to be a "blood relative" of the 19th-century abolitionist and civil rights leader. He faced charges of engaging in the practice of psychology without a license. In defense, Johnson denied that he had ever claimed to be a psychologist.

Reception Many people have criticized Johnson, including commentators in the magazines The Root South African commentator Khanya Mtshali, writing in a 2022 op-ed in the South African newspaper Mail & Guardian, likened Johnson to Louis Farrakhan and said that both men "trafficked in a goofy performance of pan-Africanism". Anwar Curtis, an opinion contributor to The Patriot-News, defended Johnson, describing him in a 2017 op-ed as a "noted conservative and Afro-centric thinker" and "dedicated [...] vessel for his people".

Various observers,