Bio of Jacob Dunzuah-Teh-Dunzuah Gongbye Gonyah Dudone Biazellah Vonyon Massaquoi II AKA DoctorRoots
Born on August 9, 1971, unto the union of Jacob D. Massaquoi, I and Latopore Larsah in Toeplay-Butuo, Nimba County, Liberia. Father had several wives as is customary in Liberia and many children born of them. There was no distinction between the children due to their being born to different mothers. Jacob was practically raised by his two elder sisters, Willette and Judee Massaquoi. Both devoted Christians and educators with multiple skills and talents. They taught him charity, compassion, hard work, and self-discipline through deeds. He accepted Jesus Christ of Nazareth as His Lord and Personal Savior and got baptized in 1983. He played an active role in his Church’s youth group.
Reinforced by his deep religious belief, another development concretized his direction in life. Civil war and brutal violence have been endemic to his home country for decades. These events shaped his life and propelled him into a life of service to humanity. In July 1990, during the height of the civil carnage in Liberia, He miraculously survived the infamous St. Peter’s Lutheran Church massacre that took the lives of about six hundred people and critically injured many others. He witnessed the execution-style killing of one of his senior siblings by the late President Samuel Doe’s government’s death squad. He miraculously escaped and survived for several days by living under a false identity in Monrovia, the Liberian capital.
On the early morning of October 1994, He survived a home invasion that left his right leg shattered by bullets five inches below his knees. He spent eighteen months recovering from his injuries at Dr. H. Brown’s Medical and Surgical Clinic, a private clinic adjacent to the Monrovia City Hall. This bullet injury ultimately left his right leg more than five inches shorter than his left leg for the next 10 years of his life.
During these years, he was physically handicapped and had to use special modified shoes for support. The pain was excruciating, and the healing and recovery time was very challenging. Time after time, he nearly lost hope, but prayers and his faith sustained and uplifted him, illuminating hope through the darkest times.
On the early morning of April 6, 1996, the civil war’s gruesome carnage swarmed through Monrovia again. By 10:00 a.m., the clinic was ransacked. Doctors and nurses fled, and patients were left to the mercy of the belligerent forces. He witnessed it all and miraculously survived.
In February of 2002, He escaped Liberia with the assistance of Ms. Frances Rea Key, Mr. Chuck LaMark, Richard Panzer, Founder of Free Teens, USA, and the Foundation for the Defense of Human Rights (Frontline). He sought and received political asylum in the United States, and settled down on Staten Island, a home to more than ten thousand Liberian refugees who fled the Liberian civil war.
PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY
Founder and chairman of Uprising Press, Inc. a media, news & entertainment, talent management, event production & management, and business consultation company founded in January 2018. Founder and chairman of African Renaissance Festival, Inc, 2021, a conservative not for profit organization with the mission of promoting US strategic interests in Africa while preserving the ancient indigenous culture and ways of life of the African people on the mother land. The organization advocates closer US Africa ties through trade, investment, infrastructure development, technology transfer, respect for territorial integrity, economic, political and cultural sovereignty.
As a direct victim of the Liberian civil upheavals, He created the Liberian Civil War Memorial Endowment Foundation, Inc (LCWMEF). A not for profit foundation created in the winter of 2018 to be launched on the fall of 2003. Their mission is to preserve the memories of the 14 years genocidal Liberian civil carnage, promote peace, reconciliation and sustainable development through direct service and advocacy. He also served as Vice President of Business Development and Africa Investment Strategy at Obie Technologies, LLC, a New York City based technology company specialized in telecommunication and innovative software development from Fall 2017 to December 2018 when the company changed ownership and discontinued its mission.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
In response to the many needs of the West African refugees and war victims including other low income families, many of whom work long hours at low-income jobs for survival, Mr. Jacob Massaquoi formed African Refuge, Inc., in partnership with the Executive Director of the International Trauma Studies Program, Jack M. Saul, Ph.D., a New York State license psychosocial therapist.
Between the late spring of 2004 and winter of 2006, Jacob went through multiple reconstructive orthopedic surgeries at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, where doctors employed the Ilizarov Techniques on my injured leg. The Ilizarov fixation device was on his right leg on a 24-hour daily basis. He was in excruciating pain and agony. Eventually, He achieved a full recovery and have since regained the full use of his right leg with the daily pain reminder.
“All of this was possible through the blessings of God Almighty (through Jesus Christ our Lord) and the benevolence of Jack M. Saul, PhD, ITSP, Survival of Torture Program at Bellevue Hospital, Church Avenue Merchant Block Association (CAMBA), Ms. Flutra Gorana, Safe Horizon Solace Program, Ms. Serena Chaudhry, Ms. Megan Perlleshi, my distinguished surgeons and primary care doctor, the nurses and front line staff at Bellevue Hospital and everyone whose name may not have been mentioned,” Jacob’s own words.
Above all, his rewarding experience can also be attributed to the “good work of the founding fathers of the great America who fought for freedom and built a nation of hope, free from fear and intimidation; those who envisioned a nation that would serve as refuge to the oppressed and a home to the weak and brokenhearted. As had found out, according to Jacob, “irrespective of ethnicity and religious creed, a man could come from anywhere in the world, play by the rules, and rise to the top in the United States, a country endowed with the spirit of compassion, love, patriotism, and service to humanity.” That American experience has also contributed to conditioning his positive outlook on life.
Despite the many catastrophic events he experienced, he always kept a positive outlook on life. Instead of harboring the pain and resentment towards the perpetrators of the war that cruelly took the lives of his immediate families including his parents and all those who tried to hurt him, Jacob redirected his energy into making a difference in the world.
During his time in Liberia, his work centered on human rights, HIV/AIDS and environmental awareness, promotion of volunteerism, and humanitarian assistance to children orphaned by the brutal civil war. In February 1998, he co-founded Free Teens Liberia, Inc. based on the ideas of Free teens, USA, a US based not-for-profit organization created by Mr. Richard Panzer, a prolife activist inspired by the teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church. Free Teens Liberia, Inc. was a non-profit volunteer organization with the mission of promoting human rights, alleviating the plight of disadvantaged children, and combating the spread of HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, drug and substance abuse among teenagers through abstinence-based education.
From August 2000 to February 2002, he served as the Country Representative of the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE). He was responsible for the coordination of activities surrounding the United Nations International Year of Volunteers (IYV2001) and its follow-up activities in Liberia. In August of 2000, Jacob successfully co-founded Call Management, Inc, along with Mr. Chucks Onyirioha, a prominent Nigerian entrepreneur as the key investor. Call Management, Inc. was a social entrepreneur venture engaged in the sales of computer hardware and accessories, internet telephone service, and other communication technology solutions, to support the work of both Free Teens, Inc. and IAVE.
Since arriving in the United States, he continued to volunteer for good causes, even under extreme circumstances. In the fall of 2004, while recovering from the reconstructive surgeries, with external fixation device (Ilizarov apparatus) on his leg 24/7 for two years, Jacob served as a volunteer mentor for Joint Action for Community Services (JACS), a national volunteer organization engaged in helping graduates of Job Corps integrate into main stream society. This experience subsequently strengthened the process of developing African Refuge, Inc. From 2005-2010, He served as a member of Staten Island Community Board #1, a statutory local community representative body of the New York city government. From 2008-2010, Jacob served as First Vice President of the Executive Board, Community Health Center of Richmond, a federally qualified community health center created to provide health services to the uninsured and low-income families on Staten Island.
“While compatriots from Liberia who suffered the same adversities some even worse than my experience were rebuilding their personal lives in New York city, engaging in personal development activities such as marrying, marry making in their new home and basically forgetting the pain and suffering they endured over the course of 14 years, I devoted my time in exile to serve humanity and work to hold all those who masterminded the Liberian calamity to account” in Jacob’s own words.
Jacob was inspired by the work of the Jewish people who pursued and hunted the culprits of the distasteful, evil and uncivilized crimes of the NAZIs. Prominent among them were Hon. Simon Wiesenthal (December 31,1908 – September 20,2005), a survivor of the Nazi death camps, dedicated his life to documenting the crimes of the Holocaust and to hunting down the perpetrators still at large. "When history looks back," Wiesenthal explained, "I want people to know the Nazis weren’t able to kill millions of people and get away with it." His work stands as a reminder and a warning for future generations. Hon. Dr. Elie Wiesel (September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. " If The Holocaust Is Forgotten, Dead Will Be Killed a Second Time" Elie Wiesel, May 5, 2011.
Jacob wants fellow Liberians and the world to remember him as the man who used his war story and life adversities as an instrument and inspiration to boldly fight for justice on behalf of himself and fellow Liberian war victims and the victims of injustice and human corruption worldwide. According to Jacob, his father consistently told him that “life is a process and not an event” Jacob D, Massaquoi, I, Experience has taught Jacob that “the greatest enemy to humanity is our silence and indifference to injustice, crime and political corruption, and death has no power over the will to survive!” Jacob D. Massaquoi, II
EDUCATION
A life -long learner with never ending passion for knowledge and always humble and willing to learn from anyone who has knowledge that he needs. He is a passive listener with the ability to analyze and extract useful information during conversation and use it for practical application to his work.
Technical business analysis with background in SQL, agile software development scrum methodology, waterfall and Rational Unified Process (RUP) experience.
Cyber security expert specialized in cyber security risk, governance and compliance and has authored a celebrated book in cyber security titled “Why AI Is a Threat to Humanity: The Argument for A Global Convention on The Research, Development, Deployment, Utilization, And Maintenance Of AI.”
Jacob describes himself as a geo-political strategist, the reincarnation of Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (August 17,1887 – June 10, 1940). He is the proponent of the ideology of Garveyism which is grounded on the pragmatism of the unification and empowerment of African-descended in the diaspora under the banner of their collective African government for self-determination, and the repatriation of the descendants of enslaved Africans in the diaspora and their wealth back to Mother Africa. Also, a self-confessed disciple of Osagyefo Nana Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (September 21,1909 – April 27,1972), a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, revolutionary and father of Pan-Africanism. led the Gold Coast to independence from the evil British empire in 1957.
He enrolled in a doctorate program at Phoenix University in 2010 pursuing a doctorate in Management (DM). After studying Philosophy courses including epistemology, deconstructivism, dialectics, and reading Emmanuel Kant, George Edward Moore AKA EG Moore, and epistemology, the study of knowledge and its limit, including post-modernism- a late 20th century philosophy that rejects the universality of truth and directly challenges indigenous values, culture and norms. As an indigenous man, spiritual man, and war survivor, Jacob describes postmodernism philosophy as the single most dangerous ideology introduced to humanity since the creation.
Post-modernism philosophy forms the bases of all the unscientific destructive ideologies which are destroying humanity in present time, especially the African American communities in the United States. This evil unfounded philological dogma is the foundation of transgenderism, gender fluidity, sex-reassignment, the reversal of traditional family social hierarchy in which the husband becomes the wife, and the wife becomes the husband and many other unscientific and uncultured garbage being taught at major universities across the western societies. On top of these unruly and evil ideologies there is critical race theory which perpetrates racism by painting all White people with the brush of racism.
As a 2007 Fellow at the New York University Wagner School of Public Service Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in Public Service and a 2009 graduate of the Executive Management Training Program at the Not-for-Profit Institute, Columbia University Business School, Jacob holds a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) degree with concentration in Organizational Psychology and development and Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) degree with concentration in Human Resource Management, both from the American Intercontinental University respectively. He studied physics and mathematics at the University of Liberia with the vision of becoming a nuclear scientist, but due to the antecedents of the 14 years barbaric Liberia civil war, dropped out and became an antiwar and anti-discrimination campaigner and social, physical and black scientist. In obedience to his fathers, Jacob ultimately became a computer scientist.
He is a 1989 graduate of the Sanniquellie Central High School in Sanniquellie City, Nimba County, Liberia.
According to Jacob, the outright humiliation of Liberian war victims is granting some of the most powerful global honors to the chief mastermind of the destruction of Liberia, his native country including his parents and several siblings as well as thousands of other innocent victims by prominent Western institutions like Harvard University, Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Stanford University, the United States Congress under immoral Representative Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House of Representative, a bleeding heart liberal, Democrat and many others, after Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the former President of Liberia was indicted by the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a statutory body under the Liberian constitution, he made a determination to reject any liberal Western dogma that contradicts the indigenous African culture and ancient ways of life and the idea of human rights and democracy and globalization in the liberal context.
Hence, Jacob describes himself as a proud African who practices African spirituality and supports polygamy, both male and female African secret societies with honor and pride. "As Africans, we should never give up the fundamentals of our heritage and ancient culture and tradition" Jacob proclaimed. He has read the Holy Bible over seven times, grown up in the conservative Baptist Church, and taught Sunday School. He also read the Holy Koran over three times and ascribed to its teachings, read the Divine Principles of Rev. Moon. According to Jacob, the Wisdom of the book of Proverbs has always kept him safe from the bosom of a strange woman. For this reason, he has lived in the West for over 22 years and has not produced a single child. Because of his believe that a Banana cannot produce an apple. Only an apple tree can produce an apple. In the same vein, he vehemently rejects the liberal West view that parents should have less role in the selection of their children’s future direction. His father directed him to become a nuclear scientist, although the civil war interrupted but still, he became a scientist, a computer instead of nuclear.
Jacob belief that knowledge is useless until it is transformed into practical products and services to advance humanity in a positive direction. Hence, his motivation for acquiring knowledge and not degrees is to convert the knowledge into practical products and services to advance the causes of Mother Africa and humanity. All the companies and creations he worked at over the last 30 years are a direct product of the knowledge acquired through academic exercises or self-taught; therefore, he urges every student not to seek degrees but knowledge. This means that you must study to perfection so that when your study is over, you can transform the knowledge into practical services or goods to support your family and humanity. “Our goal for education must be about job creation and not seeking jobs.” Garveyism 101- Self-reliance! According to Jacob.
POLITICAL OPONIONS AND PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY
What makes Jacob do what he does is a strong fundamental belief in God. Jacob is convinced beyond all doubts that God permitted him to survive the upheavals in Liberia so that he can become an agent of change that would represent the downtrodden masses through direct service and advocacy. Jacob’s strong religious and family upbringing built the core of his character, principles, and values. Philosophically speaking in Jacobs own words:
"Every disappointment is an opportunity, poverty is in the mind, and what others have achieved can be accomplished. Good character and principles inform one’s value. A being without a defined set of values and purpose is divorced from sound integrity. If you cannot stand for what you believe in, you are a coward!
Fear is an enemy of progress. It is written in most religious textbooks that heaven is a wonderful place, but no one goes to heaven alive. So, the only vehicle to heaven is death. Ironically, no one wants to ride this terrestrial vehicle due to fear. In the same vein, Satan with all his corrupt vices has long used fear from the dawn of history to propagate terror, immorality, and all forms of human indignations.
Hence, the fear of death keeps man in the bondage of poverty, impunity, and oppressive regimes such as those of the so-called “deep state regime in the United States” that rule by lies, manipulation of the justice systems, media, court systems, academia, entertainment, defense, national security and social engineering of the American public for subjugation. The deep state is comprised of unelected bureaucrats and career politicians from both Republicans and democrats who subscribed to the idea of “African exceptionalism” within the context of US military, political and economic hegemony over the entire earth. Over the last 60 years, these folks have successfully use psychological warfare to gradually highjacked Washington DC and have manipulated the US government into fighting forever wars from Vietnam, Iraq, Syria, Yugoslavia to the US NATO provoked war of aggression against the Russian Federation and the Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine from February 2014 to Present.
History has taught us that successful people are only those who are prepared to free their minds from the bondage of fear. Tyrants use fear to govern; criminals use fear to intimidate and control their prey; and abusive spouses use fear to control their partners. Fear is the most effective weapon of Satan and all evil vices but, the fear of God, conviction, courage, and persistence extinguish fear like a vapor.
The theoretical basis guiding my thinking is the doctrine of creation. God created all humankind, boys and girls, young and old, in his own image: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). The Bible says nothing about whether God is black, white, or yellow; likewise, the Bible tells us nothing about God’s heritage, tribe or language. Thus, all philosophies which hold one race superior, and another inferior must be permanently discarded and abandoned . . . finally!
People of the world are all God’s children. Therefore, we are obligated to pursue peace, harmony, unity, dignity, and prosperity for all. All humans were equal before the Creator. No one is superior to another human being. A leadership position is a privilege, not a right to think or feel superior to your coworkers or followers. A leader-follower relationship is a partnership; they are interdependent on each other for success. For example, on the battlefield, even though the superior officer is in command, every member of the troop depends on each other for survival. Contingent upon this analogy, the leader-follower relationship is essentially a teamwork that demands equal respect from all sides.
The nature of God is peace, happiness, and goodness as defined in Genesis 1:1-31. Thus, even despite the fall of humankind and all the accompanying consequences: war, death, illness, hunger, fear, hate, environmental degradation, and so on, humanity has consistently gravitated towards goodness. Today, this is exemplified through the multitude of supranational organizations: the now-defunct League of Nations, the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union, and so on. The primary objective of these organizations was and is to promote the welfare and dignity of humanity. Quite simply, peace, harmony, and prosperity for all are the goal, for it is through service to these principles that we embody the divinity of God.
Peace is unattainable in the absence of accountability, established rules, and adherence to binding international treaties including The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and all other binding international treaties.
Too often peace negotiators have employed the policy of appeasement to lure the antagonist with the biggest gun. The policy of appeasement did not work in the 20th Century and will not work in the 21st Century and beyond. In the 20th Century, Europeans learned a very hard lesson from Adolf Hitler’s notorious Nazi forces and its allies as a result of the policy of appeasement."
WHAT DOCTORROOTS BELIEVE
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I believe in the doctrine of creation.
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I vehemently oppose postmodernism philosophy because it rejects the universality of truth.
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I believe in God’s Omnipotence; Omnipresence; Omniscience; and Immutability, and that he is the arbiter of genuine love, peace, justice, truth and reconciliation.
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I believe that all man is in the image of God, male and female.
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I believe in two genders, male and female.
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I vehemently reject and oppose any philosophy or doctrine that embraces views contrary to the doctrine of creation and the universality of truth. Such views include gender fluidity, gender reassignment, feminization of men and the musculation of female.
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I believe in the doctrine of Constitutional Democracy (one-man- one-vote) and the transformation of vote into services that makes a difference in lives of voters.
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I believe for capitalism/business to be meaningful, it must have a heart; having a heart means having dual purposes; one for profit making and two, for serving humanity by being morally responsible and economically just to employees and those who help to make profit.
MAJOR WORK
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Kick-off of the International Association of Volunteer Effort (IAVE) Liberia Chapter
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Liberian Leader Receives Warm Welcome on Staten Island NY1 com2
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Unmasking the Neo Congos & Neo Progressives in Liberia (Massaquoi and Jayweh)
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http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/04/20/trauma-trumped-staten-island
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A panel discussion held Oct. 24, 2007, at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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Former Liberian refugee seeks to help others adjust to life in US
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Your Soap Box: Jacob Massaquoi, Clifton, Director, African Refuge
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Liberian War Victims Demand Justice by Jacob D. Massaquoi, II.
AUTHORSHIP
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Socially Conscious Capitalism - In Press
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Why AI Is a Threat to Humanity: The Argument for A Global Convention on The Research, Development, Deployment, Utilization, And Maintenance of AI - 2023