OPEN LETTER TO DR. UMAR JOHNSON IN RESPONSE TO HIS "DR. UMAR EXPOSES THE MANOSPHERE" VIDEO
The Black community cannot be unified with a two-tiered system of double standards
10:09 AM 7/1/2025 Tue
Dear Dr. Umar Johnson,
Your June 22, 2022, YouTube video, "Dr. Umar Exposes The Manosphere," has ignited significant debate within the Black community, particularly your remarks targeting the Black Manosphere. As a co-founder of the Black Manosphere Conclave, I must address your reductive portrayal of our movement as a collective of "beta males" driven by personal resentment rather than systemic critique. This letter expands on our concerns, highlighting the disparity in how mating issues are framed, your role as a community leader and advocate, and the Black Manosphere’s tangible achievements compared to your own initiatives.
In your video, you frame Black men’s mating challenges as personal failings, asserting that many in the Manosphere are "angry at Black women" because they "can’t get the ones [they] want," labeling this a "beta male self-development issue." Meanwhile, Black women’s mating challenges—such as colorism, featurism, lookism, fat-shaming, slut-shaming, and body positivity—are consistently framed as systemic, communal, and societal issues. This disparity is evident in scholarly work and public discourse. For instance, Tressie McMillan Cottom’s *Thick* (2019) and Alice Walker’s essays (1983) emphasize colorism and body positivity as structural barriers, supported by studies like those from the Journal of Social Issues (2016), which highlight how societal biases impact Black women’s self-esteem and partner selection. Conversely, Black men’s struggles, such as those tied to assortative mating or commitment risks, are rarely afforded similar systemic analysis, often dismissed as individual shortcomings, as you do in your video. This double standard undermines the community’s interest in fostering mutual accountability and respect, a principle we uphold in the Black Manosphere, inspired by Kevin Samuels’ data-driven critiques.
Dr. Johnson, as a prominent advocate for the Black community, how do you address this disparity? Does the Black community have a vested interest in uniting Black men and women, or does it prioritize one group’s concerns over the other? Your rhetoric suggests a bias toward Black women’s issues, framing them as collective crises while reducing Black men’s to personal inadequacies. Is it, as Nas might say, "Oochie Wally" (prioritizing emotional appeal to women) or "One Mic" (speaking truth for all)? Your reliance on Black female support, evident in your appeals to “Black queens” and crowdfunding efforts, appears to compromise your ability to be even-handed. This contrasts with Kevin Samuels, who built a platform supported primarily by Black men, embodying a "do for self" ethos that the Black Manosphere Conclave mirrors. Our financial independence allows us to demand excellence from both brothers and sisters without pandering, a freedom you seem constrained by.
Your dismissal of the Black Manosphere as driven by personal grievances ignores our structural critiques and tangible outcomes. Alienating Black men, as your rhetoric risks doing, birthed the Black Manosphere in the first place. Since our inception in 2021, the Black Manosphere Conclave has grown from 50 attendees to over 400, with no broad public support like yours. Through Theo University’s STEM program, we’ve seen over 700 brothers participate, with 200 earning high certifications in fields like software engineering and data science, achieving an 80% job placement rate with average salaries of $150,000 USD annually. We met our goal of placing 300 brothers in six-figure STEM careers a year early at our 2024 Houston Conclave. Additionally, we’ve facilitated five marriages to African women from Morocco to South Africa, aligning with your Pan-African ideals. Compare this to your Frederick Douglass Marcus Garvey (FDMG) Academy, which, despite over a decade of public support, remains unlaunched. Our results—driven by its founders Mumia Obsidian Ali, TheoWAF, and Shannon Rawls—demonstrate a commitment to excellence and self-determination, not resentment.
Our issue with you, Dr. Johnson, is your contradictory stance as a community advocate. By prioritizing Black women’s emotional support over hard truths, you align with what we term “Bought Brothers,” whose fairness is compromised by reliance on female patronage. We hold our brothers to rigorous standards, demanding excellence in discipline and outcomes, which gives us the right to expect the same from sisters. Our “fit, feminine, and friendly” standard is not misogyny but a call for mutual accountability, grounded in studies like those on assortative mating (Buss, 1985). Sisters who cannot meet this standard risk being replaced by women globally who align with our values, as evidenced by our Passport Bro movement’s successes.
We respect your contributions but challenge you to recognize our achievements and engage in honest dialogue. Join us at our 2025 Miami Conclave to discuss how we can unite for the community’s benefit, prioritizing truth over division.
Sincerely,
Mumia Obsidian Ali
Chief Innovations Officer
Black Manosphere Conclave
CITATIONS & REFERENCES
- Buss, D. M. (1985). Human mate selection. *American Scientist*, 73(1), 47–51.
- Cottom, T. M. (2019). *Thick: And Other Essays*. The New Press.
- Hill, M. E. (2016). Colorism and the intra-racial dynamics of partner selection among African Americans. *Journal of Social Issues*, 72(4), 755–779.
- Walker, A. (1983). *In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose*. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
- Johnson, U. (2022, June 22). Dr. Umar Exposes The Manosphere [Video]. YouTube.
- Samuels, K. (2021). Various YouTube content on Black male-female dynamics [Video]. YouTube. (Specific videos referenced in Black Manosphere Conclave materials).
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