Tariq Allah Nasheed & the FBA Deception — Hidden Lies {P1}
For Professor James Small and the Broader Pan African Community
“In the annals of all people we find certain men, and women, who’ve been willing to stand an appreciable distance from the herd, in order to speak the truth to their own people, and to the world. And they’ve often done that against great obstacles, and great adversity. And we’re privileged today, on this campus, to have with us one of those people. Who has been willing at times, when it was unpopular to speak the truth…”
~ Dr. John L. Warfield (Introductory remarks for Dr. John Henrik Clarke before he spoke in November of 1973 at the University of Texas at Austin)
Editor’s Note: Writing today’s entry was a full circle moment in more ways than one. With today being March 18, 2023, it is a moment in time where we can reflect on the life and works, of our great warrior-scholar, Dr. Frances Cress-Welsing. In the past, I’ve written about how her wisdom and fearlessness gave me the courage to overcome my fear. So to honor her, I would like to ritualize today’s writing by starting with thanks, and apologies.
First and foremost, I have to thank my wife, for allowing me to focus the lion’s share of my time on completing this task, while simultaneously providing me with love, and wise counsel on how to approach it. Secondly, I would like to thank my Co-General of the Amos Wilson Collective, Sister Aust NeferKa, for encouraging me to honor the pain of betrayal, felt by my emotional body, but to not let it rule my mental one. I want to give thanks, and a warriors Zulute! to all the Asafo in our Amos Wilson Collective, who made it clear to me, they had my back no matter the circumstance. Major love to brother Bomani, brother Frank, brother Amack, and brother Baakir. I also want to thank everyone who called or texted, to check in on me, including my sisters Dr. Ma’at and Sister Zakiya. And lastly, I want to give thanks to my ancestors, who I spent time with daily, throughout this ordeal, for affirming me. The ancestors have made it very clear to me, I need not worry about recording a phone call, because every thought and deed has been recorded in their records.
As for apologies, I would like to express my sincere apologies to all the learners who tuned in for Part 1 of my first public lecture, in the past 3 years. I had promised to deliver parts 2 and 3, of our Trademageddon lecture series, but due to the severity of the accusations being made against me, and by whom they were being made, I had to forgo that effort, and focus on this one. I try my best to remain disciplined as a scholar, a warrior, and an organizer, which often means ignoring distractions — but always means, not becoming one.
In this case, the distraction was impossible for me to ignore, because it represented a severe violation of Ma’at, and being true to myself, I could not move forward, until Ma’at has been restored:
“if Ma’at has been disrupted, then the first work that there is for us to do, is to restore Ma’at, so that the other work can continue.”
In closing this editors note, I want to thank everyone for taking the time to thoroughly read, and inspect every word written. And I look forward to continuing with part 2 in our Trademageddon series, next Saturday, March 25th.
Restoring Ma’at is an urgent matter of national security: Ma’at Maafa Sankofa!
Ma’at is not the companion of lies, chaos, deceit, or disorder. Yet many have been deceived by those who profess to do right, but secretly are the enemy of our people. Ma’at gives no quarter to men or women who are duplicitous, dishonorable, and deny the people justice. “As defenders of our community, Afrikan warrior scholars are exacters of justice,” (Asafo 183) for to eschew justice is to welcome chaos.
Before sitting down to write these words, I vowed to myself that anger would not rule my pen. So, while I feel hurt and betrayed by my elder, Professor James Small, I bare no resentment, because he’s not at fault.
In my eyes, Professor James Small has set a commendable example, for he is one of the very few elders that has been willing to throw himself into the digital fray — where the wisdom of our elders is needed the most. Navigating the political labyrinth of social media is a Hannibalian effort for online natives, so I have nothing but respect for any elder who attempts to navigate our 21st century digital chaos. However, given the nature of the online social environment, mistakes are bound to happen, and without proper guidance it’s impossible to tell the forest from the trees.
In the case of Tariq Allah Nasheed, it is my belief that Professor Small’s closeness and familiarity to him in the analog world (i.e., the proverbial tree) has completely blinded him to who Nasheed is in the digital world (i.e., the proverbial forest).
This blindness, or lack of insight into Tariq’s online persona, has led many to call into question the integrity of our elders, who appear to be oblivious to the latest reinvention of the Tariq Nasheed brand.
Professors Small and Kaba Kamene have no idea that the broader Pan African World, among the millennial generation, is now questioning their sincerity and honor, due to their proximity to Tariq.
At one point, these two elders were the proverbial light that shined on the Tariq Nasheed brand, but over the course of time they’ve been consumed by its shadow. Their focus on the good Tariq has done, won’t allow these elders to entertain a world in which he’s become the literal chaos set loose on our movement. Knowing this, Tariq has strategically manipulated these hard won relationships, with Professor Small and Kaba Kamene, to evade accountability, and dismiss legitimate critiques he should be forced to address.
Take for example his recent interview on the Lonzo and Dusty Vision show. The co-hosts, DJ Alonzo Williams and Dusty Vision, were so thankful for all the attention Tariq brought to their platform, they willfully deleted footage of Tariq Nasheed being CALLED-IN to account, regarding comments he made about “middle school and high school girls.”
This interview — as stated above by Lonzo and Dusty — was the largest viewing audience they’ve ever had — so I can understand why they’d want to protect Tariq (and access to his hoard of followers) after a guest caller asked the following question:
“What was the purpose of saying that middle school and high school girls, when you look at them at that age, you can tell that they’re going to be potential whores?”
Rather than answering the question, by apologizing to the sister, and addressing how he has grown, since writing these words two decades ago, he dismissed her as a “lying troll.”
Subsequent to the interview, the broadcast was edited, and any evidence of this exchange was deleted from the official record. When asked by one of their viewers, why they deleted the call-in section of the broadcast, the show host responded with the following message:
So, rather than lift Tariq to account, they decided to delete the controversial footage, and protect the VALUE/influence that comes with a Tariq Nasheed friendship — by helping him dodge accountability for harmful content he should’ve been held accountable for.
How is this relevant to the situation with Professor James Small?
During a recent episode (February 19, 2023) of our Sunday morning War Talk broadcast, we invited Professor James Small to serve as our guest warrior-scholar, where he spoke candidly about his concerns with Tariq Nasheed’s “behavior.”
Within days of the show airing, Tariq Nasheed delivered a hateful rant threatening to double-down on his verbal assault against the Black immigrant community — as a reprisal for tricking “our elder” into speaking out against him.
“the goddamn nerve of you trying to pit our brother against me and us [FBA followers]! Y’all aint shit, and I’m going harder on you fucking TETHERS! That’s why we’re going to continue to go hard on your bitch ass, for even trying to pull a stunt like that!”
~ Tariq Nasheed (2/24/23)
Rather than addressing himself to the concerns raised by Professor Small, Tariq immediately launched a counter-narrative, accusing me of being some “internet troll negro… who told Professor Small some bullshit, just so he could get a sound bite.” Again, Tariq hastily uses the “troll” accusation as a red herring to deflect from legitimate critique.
Tariq’s bombastic display of unapologetic arrogance was incredibly disturbing, given the fact that Baba Small delivered his remarks, regarding Nasheed’s behavior, in a gentle and loving way, as a father would a son. And in spite of the respect and care shown through his speech, our show producer, Slam Bradley, still felt the need to inform Professor Small that he should expect some “kindergarten backlash on the heels of the interview.”
I even went as far as to explicitly state that the intent of our interview “was not to condemn or throw away FBA… We’re not driving a Pan-Africanism versus FBA. If anything we’re inviting a conversation, and more dialogue — so we can repair this rift that’s harmful to our current movement, and our current efforts.”
None of what I said mattered. The die had already been cast once Professor Small said anything that could even be remotely perceived as not praising Tariq Nasheed. And as predicted, like bees in a colony, the FBA nest was stirred, and the first signs of anger appeared on social media within 48 hours of the show ending.
On February 21, 2023 one of the co-captains of Tariq’s Harlem Ball Handlers aired a stream called “Omowale & the lies beyond the veil,” but it mostly went unnoticed with only 427 views. There wasn’t much substance to his so-called “veil,” and aside from the usual “Omowale Afrika is lying about being African-American” drivel (see pinned tweet below), the FBA cult is known for, it appears as though his main goal was to reposition Professor James Small as the forerunner to Tariq Nasheed’s American Nativist movement, by using a clip of Professor Small, that Professor Small has spent the last 8 years denouncing.
Pinned tweet-“Omowale Afrika is lying about being African-American”
To be honest, I’m not surprised by the Real Detectives of lineage island, because they’re only doing what Tariq Nasheed has directed them to do. Tariq has trained his community of Branch Nasheedians, that anyone who does anything other than praise him must be a troll, a tether, or a hating pocket watcher. Said differently, there are no legitimate critiques of Tariq. If Tariq is criticized, members of the FBA community are instructed to “dig into the persons background,” and question their allegiance to “the code.”
Two days following the first FBA response, and four days post our interview with Professor James Small, the second defense from an FBA acolyte was placed on record. Branch Nasheedian, Afro Elite, hosted the most viewed livestream in the history of his channel.
While it was largely an incoherent rant about his idea of Pan Africanism, it laid the foundational thesis that became the generally accepted theory among the FBA community.
According to Afro Elite, the EVIL TETHER, Omowale Afrika, must’ve manipulated multiple clips of Tariq Nasheed being Tariq Nasheed, and played them for Professor Small, Off-Air — to purposefully misinform him — before going LIVE On-Air together. This BRILLIANT analysis became the commonly accepted “truth,” among the FBA acolytes — because there’s no way Professor James Small is capable of making up his own mind about Tariq Nasheed’s behavior, without a deceitful manipulative tether poisoning him.
Anyway, the wick was lit, and the “evil tether” theory was born, spreading rapidly across the FBA frontlines: “Omowale Afrika tries to use Prof. James Small against Tariq Nasheed.”
The following day, in what would become a proud father-son moment for Afro Elite, Tariq Nasheed, aka Tariq Elite, endorsed the “Omowale Lied to Professor James Small” theory, sending his already agitated hive into a full swarm.
The deed was done. Professor James Small had committed the cardinal sin, of being “OFF CODE” with Tariq Nasheed — putting him in league with the tethers, trolls, and hating pocket watchers.
To followers of “the code” there is no acceptable level of criticism, that ANY elder can give to Tariq, without the Flex-Hive viewing it as an act of treason.
We saw this clearly, when Tariq Nasheed asked his followers to recommend speakers for the 2022 Reparations Rally. One of his followers, @MonSoonFBA, recommended Dr. Joy DeGruy as a potential speaker, and was immediately rebuffed by another follower, @BlackBeautyFBA, who declined the suggestion due to her belief that Dr. Joy had “dissed Tariq in the past” — to which Tariq replied with a subtle acknowledgement, signaling to his followers that Dr. Joy was a pocket watcher.
The Tariq Nasheed cult of personality is fiercely loyal to its leader, and the mere suggestion that someone is “Off Code,” will marshal a swarm of flying monkeys to dish out punishment.
In the 7 days between Tariq’s Broadcast on February 24, and the PSA issued by Professor Small at 12:03am on March 3, the full force of Tariq’s online hive was unleashed against Professor James Small. It is my belief that this overwhelming mass of negative communications, which all carried versions of the EVIL TETHER theory — influenced Professor Small to distance himself from his previous statements, and make it clear that his full support was behind Tariq Nasheed and the FBA movement.
So how did Omowale get thrown under the bus in the process?
“Children — I don’t want to call you the name you deserve. So, I’ll say children try to create conflict between brothers, for the purpose of having conflict. To me that’s an attack on the Black race, and attack on our efforts to free ourselves. So children, back the hell up! Tariq, and I, are comrades, brothers, and friends. You ain’t gonna mess with that. Leave it alone.” ~ Professor James Small
I believe there’s a simple explanation for Professor Small’s recent retreat, and perhaps I’m being naïve, but this is what I think happened. Professor Small felt blindsided by the news that I have a “personal beef” with Tariq Nasheed.
Both he and I were unaware of this fact before he did our show, and had he known about this “beef,” he likely would’ve declined our invitation to join the show. After he was informed by Tariq's army of followers, and likely Tariq himself, that I have a personal problem with Tariq, I imagine Professor Small felt like we invited him on to the show with bad intentions (i.e., to create conflict between brothers).
“Can’t trust those plotting, scheming Tethers!”
But here’s the reality, Professor Small didn’t know that this supposed “beef” existed, because I never once mentioned Tariq in any of our communications when we reached out to him to invite him to the show. Which, by the way, completely debunks the BRILLIANT Afro-Nasheedian theory that I misinformed Baba Small about Tariq Nasheed, before doing the live show with him.
In fact, not only did I not mention Tariq, it was Professor Small who introduced Tariq’s name into the conversation:
But this too is understandable. From an outsiders perspective, it is impossible to distinguish between Tariq Nasheed (the father), The FBA movement (the son), and the holy CODE. I mean, Tariq Nasheed admitted this much himself, in his ignoble rant following our interview with Professor Small.
“the goddamn nerve of you trying to pit our brother against me and us [FBA followers]!
Based on the aforementioned quote, it appears as though there’s no deLiNeaTIon between Tariq and FBA. Tariq Nasheed is not just an FBA, he is FBA.
I believe Professor Small offered a warranted critique of Tariq’s behavior. And rather than humble himself, and accept the wise counsel of his elder, Tariq Nasheed took that critique, and told his hoard of followers that by “attacking” him, they are “attacking” us. So to be honest, I don’t blame Professor Small for being confused. The entire FBA movement is confusing.
And while I am hurt by Baba Small’s actions, I’m not mad at what he did. Yes, he condemned me publicly, but If he hadn’t done so, the lies would still be hidden, and the truth couldn’t be revealed. As a Garveyite, I was taught, “men who are in earnest are not afraid of consequences.” So, of this I am certain, the truth is ALWAYS a stumbling block for lies to be crushed upon.
So let’s recount what really happened — starting with the so-called “beef.”
The HIDDEN LIES of Tariq Allah Nasheed
FBA members don’t have a clue of what the word “beef” actually means. This is due to the fact that the political IQ of the movement is generally low, which is why it thrives on slapstick humor, cartoons, puppets, and Twitter roasting spaces.
Based on their limited view of the world, anyone who disagrees with their lord and savior, Tariq Nasheed, is a dusty hating tether, starting “beef” with their father.
This infantile perspective is reflected in their collective mental-gag-reflex, making it impossible for them to swallow anything that isn’t praise for Tariq. Their reflexive retort to any criticism received by the movement is — people are just attacking FBA, “because of their dislike or disagreement with Tariq.”
This was literally the explanation given, by an FBA elder statesmen, prior to a LIVE discussion I had with a younger follower, who asked me to defend my position that — African Americans anchoring our identity to this US Settler Colony, is akin to linking ourselves to a sinking ship.
Now, I have long since made it known that I don’t engage with FBA members online, because it’s nearly impossible to deLiNeaTe between FBA acolytes, and FBI agents.
Feb 21, 2022
Jan 27, 2022
March 13, 2019
And aside from the explicit federal nature of the movement, the level of militarized ignorance among FBA believers has shown itself to be virtually impenetrable.
However, I decided to make an exception, because the brother appeared to be sincere about learning why I consider America to be a sinking ship. To a large extent, the discussion turned out to be a fruitless endeavor, but I didn’t want to “throw our brother away.”
I actually felt bad at how frustrated I had gotten with him, so I reached out to let the brother know I appreciated the opportunity to dialogue, and would love to build again on a topic that we might find more agreeable.
This second build never happened, and subsequent to our joint LIVE discussion, he went and did his own recap, where he expressed frustration at my position that the FBA movement IS NOT a continuation or refinement, but rather an abandonment and betrayal of the work advanced by our Pan Afrikan warrior-scholars, such as, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Amos Wilson, and Dr. Frances Cress Welsing. This wasn’t a haphazard emotional judgement, this was my sober historical assessment of the FBA movement, as an informed political observer, who had observed every iteration of its development, since it was birthed by Tariq Nasheed on January 27, 2019.
My assertion that the FBA movement, had no legitimate connection to the Black freedom struggle, enraged my brother, and he asked, “who are you” to say what the ancestors would or would not agree with, when we have living elders with us now, who have embraced the movement, including Dr. Ma’at, Kaba Kamene, and Professor James Small.
I thought this was a valid question, so the next day, I reached out to my Co-General of the Amos Wilson Collective, Sister Nef, and asked her if she’d like to do a LIVE discussion, on the following topic:
Do Pan-African elders have a duty to hold FBA accountable?
Myself and my good sis, Aust Nefreka from @tehutimaat will be hosting a joint LIVE tomorrow at 12pm EST, to build on this question.
During my recent conversation with the good brother @sincereluvdagod I accused members of the FBA movement of running a false flag operation, by co-opting the iconography of Dr. Amos Wilson, Dr. Frances Cress-Welsing, and Dr. John Henrik Clarke , and using them as the faces for their Anti Afrikan movement.
The brother sincere responded by saying many of todays master teachers, are aligned with FBA, and are supporters of the movement.
Hearing this brothers sincerity, made me realize we need to have a conversation about the role of elders in our movement.
Do the Pan-African elders that have embraced the FBA movement have a responsibility to critique it/correct it, and give it direction?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and be sure to pull up tomorrow at 12pm EST for the LIVE discussion.
The discussion was phenomenal, and received lots of positive feedback. However, I didn’t want to leave people with the impression that our elders were not actively holding FBA accountable, because I had witnessed an exchange, where the type of accountability and correction we were speaking of, was given.
Back in July, of 2022, my brother Taaqiy hit me up about a panel he was looking to host, to discuss the FBA and Pan Africanism question. He didn’t know much about the history of FBA, so he reached out to me to ask for a potential title, and some questions to ask the panelists.
Initially, he had invited me to participate as a panelist, but on the day of the panel, I was uninvited. Taaqiy is my brother, so I know he had his reasons, which were likely political, so I just tuned in to watch the stream from the chat.
Following my LIVE discussion with my sister Nef, I shared a clip from the Hapi Talks stream, that was a clear example of Baba James Small offering wisdom, correction, and direction to the young brother Chase.
Hotep Family. Posting this here to share a quick point of clarification, regarding the LIVE we (@tehutimaat) hosted this morning on the duty of pan-African elders, @james.small.313 & @kaba_kemetic, to hold FBA accountable.
The impetus for our earlier discussion, was to address comments made by our good brother @sincereluvdagod where he stated that these two elders align with, and support FBA.
I want to make it clear that due to the fact that FBA, as a group, was largely developed out of a social media/online campaign, these two elders have never been close enough in proximity to observe the counter-revolutionary behaviors this group has, and continues to engage in.
The question of their role in correcting FBA, only arises out of the fact that members of the FBA contingent are using the names of Professor James Small and Professor Kaba to validate the practices, beliefs, and behavior of the FBA group.
That said, I want to be fair to these two Babas and acknowledge that when they were presented by @hapifilm with an opportunity to engage directly with the brother @itschasethegod on the FBA question, they did in fact offer correction, and accountability.
So my issue is not that the elders are not holding FBA accountable, it’s more so, they don’t appear to be aware of how FBA are using their names to lend credibility to actions, beliefs, and practices, that both professors Kaba & James Small, have demonstrated through over 80 years of collective scholarship, they DO NOT align with.
A link to the full discussion can be found here: https://youtu.be/KSWbVHtOHRw
In response to me sharing this clarifying message, I was accused by brother Sincere of “disrespecting” Chase, and accused by brother Rahiem Shabazz of having “disdain” for FBA.
Frustrated with these accusations, I went LIVE immediately, and requested brother Shabazz to join me, so we could bang out our differences on the anvil of reason. He declined, so I did a solo LIVE to, once again, clarify my position.
Having done two LIVES, in one day, I realized that there was literally NOTHING I could do or say that would make my points land. From their perspective, if my sister Dr. Ma’at could “embrace” FBA, and the elders have found no issues with the FBA movement, this was clearly an indication that my true issue is with Tariq Nasheed.
Nevermind the fact that the FBA movement was birthed on twitter in January of 2019, and my beloved sis, had only created her account in July of 2022. According to their logic, her perspective was just as valid as mine, even though she hadn’t witnessed the level of Anti-Afrikan treachery I had witnessed in the three years before she joined twitter.
Refusing to let their cognitive distortions drive a wedge between me and Dr. Ma’at, I decided that the best course of action was to contact Baba Small directly, and let him speak for himself. I mean the idea that I’m not qualified to address what a “real Pan Afriancist” would think of the FBA movement, is ridiculous, but this is the logic they ran with.
Meanwhile, I was literally the first person to ever write a documented critique of the movement, before the FBA & ADOS split occurred in November of 2019.
I would think that should give me some qualification?
Also, a platform I co-created, #RevolutionLive, hosted the first ever public discourse with some of those so-called, “real Pan Africanist scholars.” By this point, we had all familiarized ourselves with the arguments, beliefs, and ideas of the movement. So having watched FBA since it’s inception (when it was still calling itself #Tangibles2020), and throughout its ideological maturation — I would think I’m one the most “qualified” people to speak on it.
Anyway, I guess I really am just a Tariq Nasheed “hater” who’s hating on the movement.
Reaching out to Baba Small…
Feb 18, 2023
The following morning, I gave Baba Small a call, and provided him with background on the discussions we’d been having, and asked if he might be willing to join us for a LIVE War Talk. He agreed to come on, and I shared with him links to the previous two LIVEs, so he’d be fully abreast of our positions:
On the morning of February 19, we emailed Baba Small the link to join us for our Sunday War Talk, to allow him the platform to represent himself, and his actual positions (not the ones being ascribed to him) on some of the most common arguments we’ve heard from the FBA movement, since it started:
Needless to say, his responses did not go over well with FBA loyalists, and it couldn’t have come at a worst time for their movement. Unbeknownst to us, their was a civil war brewing in the FBA camp, over the refusal of some of Tariq’s frontline generals, to disassociate themselves from a dissident FBA-sect called #SecureTheTribe.
After the clip had gone viral, we learned that it was a member of this dissident sect, @FannieShotgun, who cut our original 2:40 second clip , titled — Tariq Nasheed CALLED-IN to account by Professor James Small “His behavior has to change” — and embedded it as a 2:20 second twitter snippet, with the following caption: “Professor James Small not feeling how Tariq moving??”
It was obvious he intended to provoke the FBA mob, and use the clip to score points in their continued FBA vs #SecureTheTribe fratricidal war.
Twitter user @BroMan5thFloor called him out immediately, stating:
“An entire interview with Prof James Small and you choose to highlight this part for clicks and views #panafricanism.
When I saw the clip, I quote tweeted, and left the following comment as well:
Please don’t run with the false narrative that Prof. James Small is “hating” on Tariq Nasheed. Offering correction isn’t hate, it’s love. Watch the full discussion to hear what Baba small said. He showed #FBA love, while also offering them correction.
However, the FBA movement doesn’t care about Pan Africanists — we’re irrelevant online. Nor do they care about, so-called tethers. For all intents and purposes, there is no online Pan Africanist movement that can rival the magnitude of the FBA following.
#SecureTheTribe, on the other hand, is an actual threat, because they’re perceived as a competing brand in the hashtag lineage movement, where FBA is the reigning king — after Tariq Nasheed skillfully dethroned #ADOS.
If you listen to the video below, you’ll here two of the most prominent #COTNclub members (Children of Tariq Nasheed — Pronounced Cotton), Afro Elite and Marcel Dixon, publicly debating about FBA-Marcel refusing to denounce #SecureTheTribe, which is clearly a competing brand of Tariq Nasheed’s FBA Trademark.
Is the picture getting clearer?
It will soon enough.
You see, prior to the FBA movement, I was well aware of the rich tradition of Harlem Globetrotters, but what I didn’t know, was that Tariq Nasheed had a personal army of Harlem Ball Handlers, as well.
On Friday morning, March the 3rd, my social media inboxes were exploding with notifications.
Baba James Small has spoken out!
According to the #COTNclub, Baba Small was wise enough to see that “this is personal,” and I used him in the middle of a petty beef that I have with Tariq Nasheed.
Well, in the words of the great South Carolinian philosopher, Charlamagne the God, “The LIE makes it around the world twice, before the TRUTH gets out of bed.”
As soon as I saw the post, I picked up the phone to call Professor Small, and before I could get one word out, he asked, “What’s your beef with Tariq Nasheed?!”
I replied, Baba I don’t have any beef with Tariq Nasheed. My exact words were as follows:
Baba, for every force, there is a counterforce. And for the past 4 years, Tariq Nasheed has been the leading force — spreading a MASSIVE disinformation campaign against Pan Africanism.
I then informed him that I wasn’t one who posted the viral clip on twitter, and when I saw it, I called it out for promoting a “false narrative,” and provided a link to the full discussion.
Feb 23, 2023 at 5:27AM
We spoke for a while longer, and I basically let him know that his remarks in the announcement had spun a new false narrative, and I was now being attacked, after offering him a platform to clarify his positions, because he was being misrepresented by the FBA movement.
This whole situation was spinning out of control, so we agreed on the following course of action. Baba informed me that he would be doing a LIVE show with Tariq Nasheed, to clear things up on that end, and subsequent to the LIVE with Tariq, he and I would set a date to do the same.
I have no idea what happened between us getting off the phone on Friday, and him going LIVE with Tariq on Sunday, but on Monday morning, my notifications were once again exploding. Every single message that I received about the interview, was accusing Professor Small of throwing me under the bus. The thought alone, wrenched my gut, and I could not bring myself to watch it.
Rather than feed into the hype of the crowd, I did what I always do, I contacted Baba Small directly, to figure out what was going on?
Baba assured me that the interview with Tariq was positive, but said he’d go and watch it again, just to make sure.
Man was I shocked, when I finally watched it.
The first phone call I received came from my producer, Slam Bradley, and he was LIVID! Within minutes of speaking with him, I heard from my mother-in-law, and she was pissed too! At this point, I reluctantly went to search out the interview, and started at the 47:24 timestamp, as I had been instructed.
Tariq LIEsheed, LITERALLY opens up the conversation with his son’s (Afro Elite) “Evil Tether” theory, verbatim:
“He basically lied to you and gave you some misinformation.”
As I was watching, I was almost certain Professor Small was going to kill that lie, but he literally let it live. He gave no push back at all! The more I watched, it became abundantly clear to me that Professor Small had bought into the #COTNclub “beef” narrative, and he even went as far as referring to critiques of Tariq Nasheed as misinformation.
I was in total disbelief! This was the most masterful display of manipulation I had ever seen in my life. Tariq’s act was nothing short of magical.
The idea that I am just some unknown twitter “troll” who’s been harassing the FBA movement, is just as silly as the jet black lace front Tariq was wearing.
If nothing else, I am a man of principle. Yvette Carnell and Antonio Moore have been attacking Pan Africanism, since early 2018 — around the same time Tariq Nasheed started following me on Twitter.
In all the years of their attacks on Pan Africanism, I have never once made a personal attack on Yvette Carnell, unlike Tariq Nasheed.
I may have ridiculed ADOS/FBA, because their politics are ridiculously goofy, but I’ve never personally attacked them. To the contrary, I’ve been one of their most ardent critics, but also one of their reluctant defenders.
Feb 14, 2023
I’ve always defended ADOS’s right to be wrong...
Feb, 28 2019 — I’ve called people out for trying to erase their work.
Oct 21, 2020 — I’ve called out our black immigrant family for their lack of sensitivity to our unique situation as an internally colonized group.
Feb 2, 2020 — I’ve even called out my fellow Pan Africanists.
It’s never been personal for me. I say it all the time, Yvette Carnell’s politics are TRASH! But I respect the tactical move that she pulled to set fire to Pan Africanism, which was her goal — albeit a stupid one.
So, the idea that all of sudden I’m “hating” on Tariq Nasheed, and I secretly have beef with him, is something that only a Branch Nasheedian would believe. I respect Yvette, because she made her position clear — in order for Black people to successfully become negroes again, Pan Africanism would have to burn. However, while it was Yvette who lit the match, Tariq Nasheed willingly joined her band of arsons, and it was HIS following that actually grew the flame.
In the beginning, I foolishly thought Tariq didn’t know what he was doing, so I reached out to him since we followed each other on Twitter.
March 18, 2019
Myself, and other young organizers invited him to join us for public and private dialogue:
March 1, 2019
But as time went on, it became abundantly clear, Tariq Nasheed knew EXACTLY what he was doing, and this Twitter user, @Sifnifyin, saw it before anyone else:
March 15, 2019
April 23, 2019
Once I realized that Tariq was fully conscious of what he was doing, after watching him fuel a massive misinformation campaign to destroy NCOBRA, the only thing I could do was use my platform to allow NCOBRA to come forward and speak for themselves.
Just as I did for Professor James Small.
But the damage had already been done. NCOBRA never stood a chance against Tariq in the digital world. And every young person that has since been introduced to the reparations conversation via ADOS or FBA, adamantly believes that NCOBRA is their enemy.
Sep 17, 2019
Feb 27, 2022
So why am I now speaking out, and calling attention to this matter of national security?
It’s important that we debunk this first big lie, because once we expose the hidden lies, Tariq and his Federal Black American movement will no longer be a threat to African-Americans, and our broader Pan African National family.
Think what you want about me, but the consistency of my actions will demonstrate that I’ve been a friend to every force that’s for Black liberation, and a foe to every force that’s against it.
Take our sister, Mechee X, for example. She was enraged after coming across a co-intel-space, where anonymous voices (probably feds), were spewing some of the most venomous anti African American rhetoric they could come up with. After hearing the space, she scheduled a livestream on February 2, 2022 called: “Is there a such thing as Pan African today…”
She and I didn’t follow each other on social media, so I immediately sent her a public message, asking to reason with her:
I’m going to openly send this message to my sister @mecheex
Yvette Carnell has come out an attacked Pan Africanism, Tariq Nasheed has come out and attacked Pan Africanism, and now it seems you are next in line to add to this reactionary trend.
I’ve been listening to these counter-productive Twitter spaces, and all I ask, respectfully, before you go LIVE and add more confusion to the mix, maybe consider using your platform to have a conversation about Pan Africanism divorced from the ignorance we’ve been hearing in these co-intel-spaces.
I’d be more than willing to pull up and have the build with you sister-to-brother / brother-to-sister so we can bring some understanding to the conversation, instead of more chaos.
Is there a way we can remove the emotion from this conversation, and have a real build that doesn’t involve burning down the most revolutionary instrument Black people have developed for themselves, in the war against Pan Europeanism?
When she went LIVE, later that evening, she invited me up to have the conversation in front of thousands of her LIVE viewing audience. The stream has since been unlisted, but our exchange was beautiful, and incredibly respectful. We didn’t excuse the bad behavior we heard in that co-intel-space, but we also didn’t allow ignorance to become our justification for destroying Pan Africanism.
Start Reading Part Two or Take a break, and come back later: Tariq Nasheed & The FBA Deception — Revealed Truth — Part 2.
About the author
Omowale Afrika is a Garveyite, and grassroots institution builder, with more than two decades of student & community organizing experience. Omowale has served the local Philadelphia community in a variety of roles, including, the former President of Marcus Garvey’s, UNIA & ACL, Division 121, and as an Anti-Violence activist with Men United for a Better Philadelphia.
He is the immediate past Vice-Shenuti for the Philadelphia Chapter of Afrocentricity International, where he oversaw Youth Programming, and was responsible for managing the community outreach initiatives for the African Heritage & Cultural preservation fund.
He was the lead organizer for the RBG Centennial Conference, and the 2020 Remaking Black Power Summit — and is the current Executive Director of the Afrikan War College; Founder of the Council of Black Restoration Activists, also known as COBRA; and Co-General of the Amos Wilson Collective.
In addition to his organizing efforts, brother Omowale is an independent filmmaker & community lecturer, with his most notable works being the Strike Drum lecture series, and the Un-American Dilemma project.
Brother Omowale lectures, writes, and organizes around the following issues:
- Pan Africanism/Black Nationalism
- Afrikan Spirituality
- Political Prisoners
- Reparations
- Black Liberation
- Black Power
- State Sanctioned Violence
- Rebuilding Black Families
- Community-led Development
- Nation Building
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