The Notorious P.O.D.
I vaguely heard about the incident of the Brooklyn subway shooter on Wednesday. That Thursday morning, I was on the YouTube homepage, and I saw a thumbnail of a big, bald Negro being taken into custody by the police. When I saw the image, I thought: That looks like Prophet of Doom, but I didn’t think anything of it. I went on with my day.
Sure enough later on that night, I visited the channel of the YouTuber who was overseeing the website FS Avenger (Free Speech Avenger) and on his “Community” tab, he reported that due to Prophet of Doom’s actions, FS Avenger is now under a Federal Terrorist Investigation, confirming what I thought I saw earlier. That post has been removed since I saw it Thursday. Of course YouTube has removed Prophet of Doom’s channels since then.
Looking more into it, I found out that YouTuber who was known as the Prophet of Doom — he also had another channel called Prophet of Truth — later identified as Frank James, was arrested for throwing a smoke bomb into a subway train and firing shots at passengers, which is considered a terrorist act. All I can say is…wow.
I first came across the POD on FS Avenger in 2020, then I found his YouTube channels the following year. I watched his channels until late 2021, which is when I started watching him sporadically. It’s funny (not hilarious funny, but strange funny) because about a week and a half prior to this incident, I made the decision to stop watching his channels completely.
It’s funny because while listening to his videos, in the back of my mind, I always said if someone, say, the media, got a hold of his videos, immediately they would label him a “racist,” “misogynist,” and “homophobic.” It’s surreal because I never thought that day would come, but here it is. Of course, the media is going to chop up and take bits and pieces of his videos and make him seem as if he’s this psychotic madman. I’ll admit, most of his videos were rants, but I don’t think he was crazy. His rants aside, he would say things that would make you think.
He brought up historical figures and events (e.g., the Nanjing Massacre) that I never heard of prior to listening to him. He talked about nature and the importance of respecting nature. There was a low-key educational aspect to his commentary. Let me say this: I’m not making excuses for his actions, there’s no way I can defend that. I’m making an observation from more than one angle and giving an analysis on the situation.
I can tell from listening to him that he spoke from a lot of anger, frustration, and hurt. You can tell he had a lot on his mind, and he had been through a lot. He talked about the people he worked with at this place in New Jersey called the Bridgeway House. In almost every video, he talked about how these people and some people before them, messed up his livelihood with their actions, although one former employer says differently. He worked at this place in the late 90s, so this was over 20 years ago, but he talked about it as if it happened yesterday.
The anger, hurt, and frustration that he spoke from a lot of people can relate to, especially “Black” men. I think that’s part of what drew people to his channel, albeit he had a modest amount of subscribers (somewhere around 600–900 on his YouTube channels, between 60–90 on FS Avenger) so he was under the radar, until now.
I think the anger and rage he spoke from boiled over, took its toll, and he snapped. Also, he would often mention in his videos how he thought it was too late for the so-called Black race to rise and progress as a nation, so I also think he just gave up. His thoughts were at the rate that so-called Blacks are going, their fate is either back on the plantation or in a mass grave.
My take on that is while I think the window is closing, I don’t think it’s too late, just yet. I still think there’s hope. I won’t confirm that fate like he did, but if we don’t wake up, wise up, and make provisions, it’s very much possible.
My thoughts on this overall are along the lines of a paradox because on one end, thinking back on his videos, and there were times that he hinted or briefly mentioned getting revenge — he once played James Brown’s The Big Payback on one of his YouTube videos in reference to what I just mentioned, so he wasn’t just listening to the song — what led to his actions Wednesday isn’t surprising. On the other end, still, I didn’t think he would be foolish enough to do something crazy like that.
For the latter, I think it’s because there are a lot of guys on YouTube and other platforms who use their platforms to vent and release their anger about things going on in their lives or things that happened to them, but it’s rare you hear about them doing something crazy like Frank James.
In a phone interview with his sister, she even said she didn’t think he would do something like that, so it’s not just me. She also mentioned that he was always to himself, which I picked up on watching his videos, before he mentioned it himself. For the most part, I can relate to that because I keep my circle small. To him, based on his experiences, a lot of people were scum, whatever race or gender, and I can relate because for instance, I know what it’s like to think people have your back, but they have it long enough to stab you in it.
I remember how he spoke admirably of Malcolm X and the 180 turnaround he did with his life. If Malcolm saw this, he would shake his head. Aside from insane, I also think what he did was cowardly. If it were the people at the Bridgeway House he referred to, I still think that would’ve been a bad move, but one could say that he called himself getting revenge on those who he felt/thought wronged him. To do that to people who did nothing to him was cowardly.
It’s amazing how these things play out. There’s a YouTuber that he made videos about, describing him as a “train wreck,” which most people who are familiar with him described him that way, and how he’s a walking time bomb and was suicidal. Now, look at him.
Finally, while I won’t allow this to discourage me from speaking my mind — I think his actions and the content from his videos could be used as another covert attack on free speech — stuff like this is why, while I’m an advocate for free speech, you have to smart about it. I speak out about things and give candid opinions about things taking place in society, but I don’t threaten people. That’s usually a sure way to get authorities knocking at your door. I’ve seen videos or heard about people being arrested over threats they made in a YouTube video.
As far as FS Avenger goes, the owner was talking about taking it down once the investigation was over. Actually, that was a move he was planning before the subway incident. I’ve never heard anyone say anything on that website that would be deemed “terrorist,” but because that nut case committed a terrorist act, I think that’s why they’re looking at them to see what type of videos people are posting. Others shouldn’t suffer because of the stupidity of one man.
