In his new TNT show about race in America, former NBA superstar Charles Barkley heaped praise on the leader of a Dallas-based Pan African group who protested against an anti-Islam organization last year. Barkley said he appreciated the work of the group, Guerilla Mainframe, and its leader, Yafeuh Balogun.
But unmentioned in the show, “American Race,” are Balogun’s disturbing comments in support of Dallas cop killer Micah X. Johnson.
“He shall be celebrated one day,” Balogun wrote on Facebook, the Dallas Morning News reported just after Johnson killed five Dallas police officers in a July 7 rampage.
“I have no remorse for the Dallas Police Officers shot downtown, it’s about time,” added Balogun, the co-founder of Guerilla Mainframe and another black paramilitary group, the Huey P. Newton Gun Club.
It’s not clear whether Barkley or TNT were aware of Balogun’s past comments or his affiliation with the Huey P. Newton Gun Club, which reportedly came under FBI investigation after Johnson’s shooting.
But in his interview with Balogun, Barkley seemed impressed with Guerilla Mainframe’s confrontation last year with an anti-Islam group called the Bureau of American-Islamic Relations (BAIR).
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Last March 20, BAIR members protested a black mosque in Dallas. Armed members of Guerilla Mainframe, which practices open carry, showed up to counterprotest and ultimately forced BAIR to cut their demonstration short.
“I really appreciate the Guerrilla Mainframe defending the mosque and the Muslims,” Barkley said in the show.
“So anybody who’s not doing what they’re supposed to do, y’all call them on it?” Barkley asked Balogun.
But Balogun seems to have little interest in confronting people doing “what they’re supposed to do,” as his comments about Johnson show.
After Johnson’s shooting, Balogun told VICE that he would not cooperate with investigators on the case.
“I will not cooperate with any investigation process. I will not speak to any police, FBI…I’m not cooperating with any police agency in the United States of America,” he said.
Johnson, who was killed after ambushing the Dallas police officers, was loosely affiliated with Balogun’s Dallas-based paramilitary groups. He “liked” the Huey P. Newton Gun Club on his Facebook page, and some members of the organization said they had seen the 25-year-old at of the organization’s functions.
Balogun’s gun club, which he founded with another radical name Babu Omowale in 2014, has links to other killers.
Derick Lamont Brown, a member of the club and a leader in the People’s New Black Panther Parter, killed his neighbor and opened fire on Dallas paramedics and police during a standoff earlier this month. (RELATED: FBI Was Investigating Black Nationalist Who Shot Dallas Paramedic)
It emerged after that incident that the FBI was investigating Brown because of his affiliation with the militia groups.
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Turner Broadcasting, which owns TNT, did not respond to an emailed request for comment about why Barkley glorified Balogun and his group.