Conscious Stripper & Why She Exposed Dr. Umar Johnson

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If you haven’t heard by now, Dr. Umar Johnson, the self-proclaimed prince of “Pan-Afrikanism” and descendant of Federick Douglass, has gotten caught with his hands – and other body parts – inside of the proverbial cookie jar.

The whistleblower is a woman in her 40s named Khym Ringgold, a blonde weave-wearing resident of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She goes by the screen name “Conscious Stripper” on social media. She has been putting Johnson on blast for nearly a month now, exposing him in a series of Instagram posts, tweets and YouTube videos, which layout personal SMS messages about their illicit affair. Johnson, who has been engaging in a fundraising campaign for an all-boys academy based on Pan-Africanist ideology, is known for both his homophobic and misogynistic rhetoric. That speech includes condemning Black women for their sexual behaviors and for wearing unnatural hair. The unmarried father of two children by two women also regularly lectures about the importance of Black marriage and abstinence. He was most recently a guest host on The Roland Martin Show in May, and he revealed to the listening audience that he is celibate.

Dr. Johnson has responded publicly via his Instagram to Ringgold (he later deleted it from his page, but a few people and websites have managed to save the original text). He contends that he and Ringgold never dated, but rather engaged in a series of three “after midnights.” Furthermore, he states that he was tricked by this “maggot in life” posing as a queen and that he didn’t know she was an exotic dancer until two weeks into their affair. He also blames his “escapade” with Ringgold for allegedly costing him a million-dollar donation for his boys academy, which would have come from an unnamed NBA player.

In an exclusive interview with MadameNoire, Ringgold shares with us her reasons for coming forth about their affair, which she said began in January and lasted until May of this year. In particular, she wants to let the public know that she is more than a scorned stripper. Rather, she is a real woman who wanted to be part of a movement for Black liberation, but instead feels as though she was led astray by a charismatic leader. And while she does not see herself as bitter, she says that she does want to set the record straight about a man who is promoting one set of standards to his followers, but is living a totally different reality.

Charing Ball: You go by “Conscious Stripper” on Twitter. Tell me how you came up with that name?

Khym Ringgold: Actually, it was Umar Johnson who came up with that name, not me. He said that to me during a conversation we had where he was like, “Oh, you’re a conscious stripper.” It was kind of jokingly made up. That was until an argument, which happened right before I released the text messages. This time he used it with me in a threatening way. I felt that this was going to be last time that somebody is going to try to demean me because of my profession. So I embraced the name. And it was sort of an empowering thing for me to do.

CB: So are you an exotic dancer?

KR: I am an entertainer. They have a lot of different names for it, but I choose to use entertainer because that is exactly what I do. I dance. I do not strip. That is just a term that I use because people can identify with it easily. I dance and entertain in a strip club for both females and males because strip clubs are not just gentlemen clubs. They are for everybody.

[editor’s note: Ringgold also told me that she is a female celebrity impersonator. You can watch a video of her Janet Jackson performance here. For the interest of space and brevity, this part has been edited out of this interview]

CB: One of the questions people are going to want to know is can an entertainer who dances in a strip club actually be conscious?

KR: Yes, most definitely. Based on the response to this scandal, I would say humbly, that I am more conscious than a lot of other people I thought were conscious. The word conscious just means awareness of self. You have knowledge of what is going on around you. You have knowledge of who you are as an individual and not just following somebody else and their philosophies. You can think and conceptualize for yourself. I think that a lot of people use the term, and they don’t really know what the term really means. And they take it and try to define you with it, but they themselves don’t know what it means. I went to college, but I withdrew. Still, I am self-educated. Before I even found out who Dr. Umar was, I was a student of Amos Wilson, [Yosef] Ben-Jochannan and basically all the greats prior to him. So his message was not really new to me. What I was attracted to was the work that came with the message. The work that he promised he wanted to do. Also, I home school my own son and prior to that, I worked in elementary schools tutoring other kids. So I have also been an educator myself.

CB: Tell me about your involvement in the Pan-Africanist movement. 

KR: I came into the conscious community about two years ago. I had studied most of the other religions. I was Jehovah’s Witness, Christian and all of that. So the more I studied it, the more I learned and the more I evolved. And that is how I was led to the consciousness. So I actually wanted to learn more about that community. And it was a year ago that I learned who Umar was, his work and what he wanted to do. I learned that he was at the top and the most popular in his community. And I wanted to become active in it because I wanted to see some real change.

CB: And how long have you been a follower of Dr. Umar?

KR: I wouldn’t call it being a follower, but I would say that it has been a year since I have become familiar with his work.

CB: So you started to feel like you were just a booty call?

KR: Yes.

CB: And what was his response when you told him that?

KR: He would just dismiss it as “Well, you know I am working, and I am busy.” That worked for a while, but then it just didn’t make sense. I had already given him leeway.

CB: After you broke up and got back together again, did he stop talking to you less and less?

KR: No, actually he started talking to me more because he saw that was a problem for me.

CB: But you still felt like you were being used so you broke up with him?

KR: Right.

CB: Did you want a serious relationship with him?

KR: I wanted to wait and see. That’s why I didn’t reciprocate when he said that you belong to me. One thing that I had an issue with was the traveling all of the time. I had to ask myself, is this something that I wanted to deal with? I just came out of a relationship where I dated a celebrity, who I will not name, and it was the same thing. And I went through that for six years. Before that, I was dating a baseball player who is my son’s father. So after two relationships where I had to deal with men who traveled a lot, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do that again. In addition to the traveling, I wasn’t impressed with how he was treating me. That was a big concern. I wasn’t even worried about a man cheating on me. Me being in a profession that I am in, I already know that is a given. Women may think their men are loyal to them, but I see otherwise. So I am more concerned about how a man treats me. I expect to be valued.

CB: How was he not valuing you?

KR: So it was like, “I’m the man. I’m Dr. Umar. You should be honored to be with me.” He didn’t feel like he had to cater to me at all. He felt like he should be catered to all the time. So I’m catering to him and all that, but I never got that in return. So reciprocity was an issue with him.

CB: Did you think that there might be other women?

KR: At the time, I thought it was possible, but he assured me that it wasn’t the case.

CB: So did he know about your profession while you were dating?

KR: Yeah he knew.

CB: And he didn’t have a problem with it?

KR: No, he even saw pictures of me at work on the pole. So no. He said he didn’t have a problem with it at all.

CB: And what about your hair because he has made statements about Black women and weaves. Yet you regularly wear weaves, and your hair is blond. It didn’t bother him?

KR: No. Not at all. In fact, while we were intimate it didn’t bother him at all. And when I heard the radio statement, I was like “Oh my God.” Like, I had butterflies in my stomach.

CB: So he made one of those Black women hair comments on the radio while you were together?

KR: Yes! In May after our first break up, I started following him on social media and taking a closer look at him. That’s how I knew he was going to be on The Roland Martin Show. It was going to be a relationship show, so I decided to listen. So I’m listening and towards the end of the broadcast, he said I’m not sexually active. I’m celibate. My heart started beating, and I got butterflies. I couldn’t believe he was lying like that. I wasn’t going to call into the radio show and put him on blast. I had to collect my thoughts, try to figure out what just happened and think about what I was going to do next. And I wasn’t going to approach him about it over the phone or in text message. I wanted to confront him about it face to face. But I never got around to that because, in May, the hotel thing frustrated me, and I just said forget it all.

CB: So on the radio show, was it the fact that he was not claiming anyone that had you most upset?

KR: No, not at all. I wasn’t expecting him to say that I am with someone right now because we hadn’t developed into that. It was the part about him saying that he was celibate. It was a lie. And he just told everyone an outright lie. And if he was lying about that, what else is he lying about? So it just confirmed my suspicion that he was lying about his cousin being at his apartment and his flight being late, which is why we always had to meet so late. So it just started bringing into question everything.

CB: You said in May there was a hotel incident. What was that about?

KR: So in our entire relationship, we had only been intimate three times. And that was because I spent a good portion of the relationship angry with him. In May, we had another fight. That is the text message with the angry faces. And then we had made up. But after making up, I told him that I was busy because I wanted some me time. So he sent a text in response to what I just said, talking about a hotel. So that is why I was infuriated because we already discussed that we weren’t going to do that. Just like I wasn’t putting pressure on him to make a commitment to me, I didn’t appreciate him putting pressure on me to be a sexual slave for him. So for him to send that [text] asking again for sex, either he did not listen to anything I told him or he just totally disregarded it. So whatever the reason, it just angered me and I ended it that day.

CB: So when did you decide to put him on blast?

KR: See, I am still down for the cause. But when I see that you are not, it bothers me. When he sent me that text message saying that his mission is for the boys, but what are you going to do about your own behavior?  How can you teach somebody else when you lack the ability to do it yourself? So in seeing his behavior, it really just confirmed to me that he was not who he said he was. All he had to do was admit, “Yes, I am sorry. I made a mistake. I lied. I should not have done that.” I didn’t see those things. So that told me that he was not serious about his mission to teach somebody else how to be responsible.

CB: Did you ever confront him about his inconsistencies?

KR: Yes…He was more concerned about his image and his career. He confirmed to me that it was about self. People appreciate you more if you show them that you are human and how you deal with problems. That is what motivates and inspires people. Not pretending to be something that you are not while condemning others for not being what you pretend to be. I thought the idea was to try to make everybody feel like they are of value, not just him and his career. It is about all of us and not just about one person trying to be the savior and the leader of it all. That’s why I left the church because I am not into that idol worship. And that is why I am on a mission now to make sure that all young girls and boys feel confident about themselves and not feel like anybody is above them.

CB: So that is when you decided to release the text messages?

KR: Yeah, because he could have just walked away, and nobody would have never known that he was dating this stripper. But for me, I couldn’t have this on my conscious. Plus, two years have gone by since he started his campaign. Children are still not being educated. How many children are still waiting for this school to open up? But we are waiting on somebody who is making false promises.

CB: So you put him on blast, and he has issued a statement where he blames you for losing a million-dollar donation. Do you think there is any truth to that?

KR: No. I think that is totally false.

CB: What do you think about his response, in particular, calling you a “maggot” and saying that you entrapped him?

KR: I am not surprised at all by his response because it is exactly what I learned about him. And that is basically he is a liar and he is doing damage control right now. I mean, you can look at his response and the texts and you can see the lies all through it. And as far as the name calling, I have never called him a name.

CB: What do you say to people who call you an agent provocateur?

KR: It is foolishness. And it is something that he has programmed them to think. He said the same thing on The Roland Martin Show. It was a show about relationships. The phone lines got messed up, and he told the audience that it was the FBI. So when he keeps telling people that the FBI is after them, they will start to believe that lie. Umar has never been a threat to anybody. All he is doing is promoting his events.

CB: Did he have any relationships with your son?

KR: Yeah, he met my son at the Garvey event. And my son was with me when we went to Dr. Ben-Jochannan’s funeral. Umar was the one who drove us home. My son is not fond of Umar, and he has never been. I should have listened.

CB: And how does your son feel about him now?

KR: Well, he really has a disdain for him. But what he learned from it is how he should treat a woman.

CB: My last question is do you feel bitter about the situation?

KR: No.

CB: Do you feel empowered?

KR: Actually I do. When you go through things, you learn about yourself. And it makes you stronger.