Photo: Dr. M. Dujon Johnson in Ukraine/ Facebook
M. Dujon Johnson, a 62-year-old Black doctor in Detroit, recently told his family and the congregation at his church that he’s heading to Ukraine to help the Eastern European country protect itself from the Russian invasion.
Johnson was with the Peace Corps Response in Ukraine from 2018 to 2019, teaching at Cherkasy National University and Cherkasy State Business College in central Ukraine. While living in Ukraine, he said, “my job was to train university professors in how we bring transparency and democracy in the classroom.” He taught them about government and civic society. When the pandemic began, he taught at Ukrainian universities online.
A veteran U.S. Army doctor who served in Germany in the 1970s, Johnson told the Detroit Free Press that he was set to fly on March 9 to Amsterdam and then Krakow, Poland. He planned to cross the border into war-torn Ukraine and meet up with groups in Cherkasy coordinating foreign fighters. He also said he’s contacted Ukrainian officials and registered with the Ukrainian Embassy.
“I’m actually going to fight,” Johnson said. “That’s the purpose. It’s not humanitarian, it’s actually going to fight. I’ll be issued a weapon once I get there.”
He added, “If a democratically elected government can be wiped off the map, the question is, who’s next? Is it Estonia? Is it Poland? Is it Lithuania? Is it Hungary? Where does it stop? With Hitler, people kept thinking he would stop as he was invading these countries.”
Johnson will be among many foreigners who have traveled to Ukraine to fight on the frontline. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said about 16,000 people from around the world have flocked to Ukraine to fight.
Johnson told Fox 2 Detroit that he was inspired to fight after watching a country he loves turn into a war zone following the Russian invasion.
“The idea that a foreign power, an external power, can attempt to erase the identity and the sovereignty of a country so blatantly, (that) really struck a nerve,” he said.
Black America had a lot to say on Twitter.
“If ‘sit yo a** down somewhere’ was a person,” tweeted filmmaker and social commentator Tariq Nasheed. “Detroit man preparing to fight in Ukraine”.
Some on Twitter wondered why the doctor would fight for a foreign country and not his own community.
“Fighting for Ukraine and not for Detroit,” tweeted Melanin Michelle (@MelaninMichell1).
Others questioned his sanity.
“I’m live in Detroit I was hoping that u seen this our brother has lost his mind,” tweeted Prdgmshft.
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“He needs to go over there! Hopefully his reality check doesn’t cost him his life,” tweeted Carla C @CCAboriginal.
The U.S. State Department’s travel advisory warns U.S. citizens not to travel to Ukraine and those in Ukraine to leave.
Photo: Dr. M. Dujon Johnson in Ukraine/ Facebook
