“I had a powerful presence on social media, but I came into the real world and put boots on the ground. I became a real person. And a lot of these people are not willing to put in that type of work.”
– Grand Master Jay to Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur
Grand Master Jay, already known for his activism and leadership within the Black community, took a dramatic turn in the aftermath of Ahmaud Arbery’s death. Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was jogging in Brunswick, Georgia when he was hunted and fatally shot by Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael. The McMichaels claimed they believed Arbery was a suspect in recent break-ins and were attempting a citizen’s arrest. This incident, occurring on February 23, gained national attention and outrage, especially after a video of the murder was released to the public.
Grand Master Jay, real name Dr. John Fitzgerald Johnson, was one of the very first people on the ground in Brunswick after the murder of Arbery. He immediately formed the NFAC (Not F**kin’ Around Coalition) in response to the modern-day lynching. The group, comprised of Black military veterans and former U.S. military personnel, was not only a reply to the Georgia incident. It was a stern response to the killing of unarmed African Americans by police or wanna-be vigilantes like George Zimmerman and the McMichaels.
Immediately after Arbery’s killing, I interviewed Grand Master Jay, who no longer helms the organization. He had not even taken his mask off. That was only three years ago, in 2020. The nation was a hotbed of racial strife and was still dealing with a global pandemic. At that point, the NFAC’s formation emphasized the group’s commitment to self-defense and protecting Black communities. He stressed that state-sanctioned violence was as American as stars and stripes. In 2024, everything has changed.
Today is the fourth anniversary of Ahmaud Arbery’s disgusting, shameful murder by three cowards (the driver included). Not only are villains The McMichaels and driver William “Roddie” Bryan in prison, but so is Grand Master Jay. He has a lot to say about the current state of affairs as well as the slow, seemingly deliberate erasure of his then-revolutionary actions and more about the condition of Black leadership. Here is an edited transcript of the conversation we had.
AllHipHop: Okay, great. I wanted to mention something. My barber, his name is Skilz, he mentioned you last time I got my hair cut without my prompting. He asked me how you were doing. So I thought that would make you feel a little bit about that there are people out there.
Grandmaster Jay: I know for a fact that there are people out there who are doing what they’re supposed to do. What I’m saying is, it’s amazing to me that some of the books that I’ve had that have made it to me, because I get a lot of books. There’s a book called “The Second,” where they talk about the Second Amendment Movement in the United States in the last 5 or 10 years. There’s a lot of books that I’ve read where they write about the summer of 2020 and they talk about all of the high-profile cases like Elijah McClain, your [inaudible], they talk about Emanuel Nine [This refers to the Charleston Church Massacre, an anti-Black mass shooting in Charleston, SC on June 17, 2015]. They’ll talk about these things, but they purposely skip over certain facts. I’m like, “What is going on here?” That’s what I’m talking about.
Grandmaster Jay: When I watched the special that CNN did, where they looked back on the summer of after the quarantine and they showed all of these protests and they showed all of this stuff and they even show some of the footage, but they gloss over it.
The Plight Of Grand Master Jay Is Now Both Medical & Political
And I’m going like, “What are you all doing? Are you all trying to put America to sleep? Do you all not want them to realize that history repeats itself? Is there a reason?” I told you, in Michael Eric Dyson’s book, Long Time Coming, he actually goes on to make a quote that I thought was very interesting because he talks about us but he talks about us in the context of… Matter of fact, the quote is, “During the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2020, a new pro-gun, a Black self-defense militia, the Not Effing Around Coalition emerged. Team members decked out in military [paraphernalia] and supporting semi-automatic weapons agitated many white folk while drawing greater acclaim in some Black circles because of their attendance, their protests.” Okay, so we know that we hit on some points that were well received, but where is that in the course of the discussion of the aftermath of what has happened? Like you said, “Look at where America is today.”
Grandmaster Jay: Look at everything that’s crazy that’s going on. Y’all got administrative amnesia. What is it going to take for y’all to realize that you can’t ignore history? History is going to be told either by you all or when I come home to write the book. One way or the other, you’re going to have to deal with the truth. That is almost as if you all were afraid to admit what has happened or become so complacent that you just accept things that are just the way it is.
Grandmaster Jay: When I hear about brothers… You talk about Skilz and guys like that, I know there are guys out there that miss me ’cause I get letters. I get letters. That’s something you didn’t ask me about. I get tons of letters. As a matter of fact, I get more mail than anybody. Daily. Some people I know, some people I don’t. Cards, pictures, well wishes, commissary, articles, even people trying to help out legally. So, it’s not like they’re ignoring me. It’s just like I said, in the course of the discussion of where we are today, it just disturbed me by those who are out on the forefront of the discussion who act like nothing’s happened since Malcolm X.
Grandmaster Jay: Listen, the building brick of any community is the family. And until we start to rebuild the family, you’re not going to rebuild any communities. That’s what makes… Family is the most powerful element of a community. And so we got to start right there. People act like I fell out of love with the Black race. I love the Black race, but I also love humanity. And humanity is based on family. We have to reestablish our own identity and stop letting other people define us. So, my advice is, y’all got to get together, get around the table, stop having all these meaningless conversations. Come out with a roadmap for three to five years, break down those areas, politics, finance, culture, education, infrastructure, farming, food, the whole nine yards, do for self but also learn to work along with other groups so that everybody got something to bring to the table right now. What are you bringing to the table as a people?
And matter of fact, when somebody say, “Well, what are you bringing to the table?”…tell them “I’m the table. What you talking about?”
AllHipHop: Technology seems to play a big role in where we are right now as well. The social media apps and other things, other platforms. The phone even has, seems to me, derailed us. I could be wrong, but I think even our leaders “Are chasing likes and views.” And when I say-
Grandmaster Jay: You have to remember something, Chuck, I was light years ahead of everybody on social media, phone, and technology, mostly because of what I do in my civilian world. But at the end of the day, I believe that you’re right. I think people are now getting caught up in a cyber world that’s not the real world without realizing that that too is a construct to control you.
AllHipHop: Mm-mmm.
Grandmaster Jay: Okay, information is power, and power is knowledge, but at the end of the day, the wrong information will have you making the wrong decisions and rob you of your power. I don’t believe that people realize just like what I used to do. Yeah, I had a powerful presence on social media, but I came into the real world and put boots on the ground. I became a real person. And a lot of these people are not willing to put in that type of work.
The rising generations born into this technology don’t know how to socialize with people anymore. Everything they do is electronic. They don’t have those skills anymore. You have got to bring that back. What is it going to take a moratorium on social media, a moratorium on phones? You can’t. That’s what our society is now built on. Eat, sleep, and breathe. That’s why one of the books that I told you, the Hidden History of Big Brother in America, those systems are allowed because those systems collect information, and information is bought and sold to control.
And at the end of the day, I think that a lot of folks don’t realize that those are wonderful tools-that control you.
AllHipHop: Right.
Grandmaster Jay: And I showed everybody how to balance that and some people, and I made it look easy, but it wasn’t, was not a long shot. That’s why I got the attention of the US government because I was able to balance technology and reality into a mixture where we were getting results. And that’s something that as long as you just live in cyberspace, you’re harmless.
AllHipHop: Yeah, that’s true.
Grandmaster Jay: You can have 125,000 followers online, but how many will show up when you say, “I’m trying to raise funds for this, or trying to do something, a political drive or…” How many going to show up? Remember before we had this technology, you had to put your feet on the road, you had to knock on doors. The Jehovah’s Witness came over every Saturday morning and knocked on your door. There was no social media for Jehovah’s Witness.
For more archived information on Grand Master Jay or the NFAC, click here.
C/O: Dr. John F. Johnson #20257509
FCI – Ashland
P.O. Box 6001
Ashland, KY 41105