Source: Daily Rap Up Crew/YouTube
An interview with Dr. Umar Johnson has not only gone viral in part because of the noted Pan-Afrikan psychologist’s views he shared addressing the dynamics of heterosexual relationships between Black people.
The interview with the Daily Rap Up Crew podcast was published on YouTube last Friday and featured its hosts peppering Johnson with questions on various topics that included but were not limited to self-hate in the Black community, President Barack Obama’s two terms in office, slavery, voting, HBCUs and reproductive rights.
But it was the conversation’s attention to Black men and women and the nature of their relationships with each other that caught social media’s attention most and propelled it to go viral.
Always a major promoter of Black-on-Black love, Johnson offered some sobering views about how he says Black men treat Black women.
What did Umar Johnson say?
“At the end of the day, if I’m going to call myself a man, the ultimate responsibility for the reconstruction of the Black community rests with me,” Johnson told the Daily Rap Up Crew podcast’s three hosts. “Yes, they [Black women] have a role. Yes, they have responsibility. But as a man — as a leader — to say ‘I can’t fix this shit unless she changes’ — that’s not the definition of a man.”
The Daily Rap Up Crew’s hosts, three Black men, pushed back on Johnson’s assertions and complained that Black men “have to deal with masculine women” within the family structure.
“Why is she masculine? Because she had to raise the kids alone, I’m telling you, mistakes made by Black men systemically gave rise to the conditions that allowed her to be masculine and made her end up with a man that you consider to be less than he should be,” Johnson said. “And I’m telling you, Black men are responsible for her being masculine because we have not helped her raise them children.”
Johnson continued: “The Black woman has been the be-all, end-all in our community for half of a century, and now we want to turn around and say she didn’t do it perfectly enough or remained feminine enough when she had to absorb our responsibilities plus her own.”
He also said Black women were wrongfully being blamed for the actions of Black men.
“And we are complaining about the women who are making babies with the irresponsible men that we [Black men] didn’t raise correctly. That’s bullshit! That’s wimp-ass, weak man shit! Take responsibility for our shit. Stop scapegoating them [Black women].”
Watch the Daily Rap Up Crew podcast episode with Dr. Umar Johnson below.
What Black Twitter is saying
The interview sparked a larger debate on social media, where the response has been one that largely agrees with Johnson; at least by Black Twitter.
But, of course, there was a fair share of negativity from detractors who found Johnson’s commentary to be divisive.
“Dr. Umar can’t tell Black Women the truth cuz he needs as many of them as possible to send their kids to his school so he can get as much money from the gov’t as possible,” one tweet said in reference to Johnson’s long-planned school in Delaware for Black boys. “This clip is proof that Black Men don’t even have allies amongst ourselves.”
But another tweet disputed that claim by pointing out that despite the “problematic things” Johnson has said for years, “once he makes a point that includes accountability from Black men when discussing how Black women select/date, NOW y’all concerned about him building that school.”
Others pointed out how the conversation may be uncomfortable but necessary.
“Dr. Umar said all the harsh truths” in the interview,” one tweet said.
Citing “a study that said 57.6% of black children are living absent their biological fathers,” another tweet said “Dr. Umar is right when he says, BLACK MEN aren’t raising our boys. If every black man, raised their kids “properly” our community would have more positive black men & women.”
Umar Johnson has a history of addressing Black men and Black women’s relationships
The Daily Rap Up Crew podcast is far from the first time Johnson has chimed in on the state of Black heterosexual relationships.
Earlier this year, Johnson doubled down on his criticism of Kevin Samuels months after the controversial self-proclaimed relationship guru died. In that instance, Johnson called Samuels’ style “divisive” and decried his “approach to criticism and expectations for women” as being “very superficial in terms of what was important.”
Johnson continued later: “Telling women that you are too fat or too small or too broke, and that’s the reason why you don’t have a man that, is psycho pathological and it is destructive to our community. I did not agree with his approach at all.”
Johnson also said Black women who supported Samuels lacked love for other Black women.
“And the fact that he did have a lot of people [following him] speaks to how decadent and speaks to how self-hating we can be as a people,” Johnson added. “I’ll be honest with you. I think a lot of the women who supported Kevin Samuels supported him because they don’t like other Black women, and they enjoy sitting back on their couch sipping their tea and watching this Black man tear Black women’s self-esteem to shreds.”
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