Spotlight—Lovie Ray Johnson, Jr.

The world has a peculiar way of stealing the innocence of its children while turning a blind eye to the travesty it has committed. Producer/Director/Writer/Actor Lovie Ray Johnson, Jr. seeks to change that with his current film project, “Supernal Darkness,” which focuses on the world of child sex traffic. It is an underbelly Johnson believes powerful forces in real life society perpetuate.

Johnson’s own childhood was not as picture-perfect as many might have perceived a black military family like his to be. One may think that a church going family in the ‘70s would be immune to the sicknesses of depraved souls but Johnson was not so lucky. His first abuser would be a good family friend, his Sunday school teacher. He was 6. The trauma of this experience saddled Johnson with a huge sense of loss. “It opened my eyes to a world you should not be open to at that time,” he says.

The next abuser would be even more shocking. Shortly after moving to a new military base and settling in, Johnson, in retrospect, recalls a close family member began to groom him for the sexual abuse that would follow for several years. His greatest disappointment was that even when he presented his family with the fact that he was being abused they did nothing to address it and protect him. His childhood could be summed up as one one rife with emotion abandonment and betrayal.

All the while, his family was faithful churchgoers. Johnson himself found solace in the church. “It taught me about Jesus. [Because of that] I embrace everybody and realize everybody is trying to find their way to God.”

As soon as Oklahoma City University came calling, Johnson was out the door. Fortunately, he had a talent for basketball that won him a scholarship. He was a tenacious player and recalls playing three to four games with a broken finger. His team was amazed by this but for Johnson working through pain was nothing new. He remembers thinking, “This is what I am, this is what I do.” It wouldn’t be long before he would meet his wife on campus, a lovely Indian American woman. They wed on his birthday.

Johnson’s future looked brighter than a Jumbo-Tron. However, an unforeseen tragedy would rock his world. After receiving a professional contract to play basketball in England and being voted Player of The Year, his wife suffered complications in their first pregnancy. He flew back to The States to care for her. Subsequently his first child, a boy, died in the hospital.

His team sent their condolences with his jersey and a basketball signed by all the players. Johnson would not return to basketball and says he buried the game with his son. Today, his daughter Daesja is the light of his life. His marriage did not survive once he took to the bottle. After 7 years they called it quits and now have an amicable relationship.

Johnson sought to rebound by taking up coaching and personal training. However, he found a groove in acting. Through theater, he could exorcise the demons of his past. He decided to use his talent to tell the story of sex trafficked children, the children without voices.

For “Supernal Darkness,” Johnson teamed up with Dream Propaganda/Osse Prop to create a companion graphic novel.  The Supernal Darkness movie trailer, directed by Jeff Frentzen, is available on YouTube and is gritty and visceral. 

Johnson believes that the absence of both parents in the home lends itself to the vulnerability of children to predators. “We can help prevent a lot of trafficking by paying attention to our children,” says Johnson. “You have to be actively involved with your child. We need to believe our children. The way the world is today there is no one home to take care of them.”

He points a finger at western culture for sexualizing children. Recently we’ve seen an underwear line for 10 year olds at Victoria Secret. Abercrombie & Fitch sold girls’ underwear with the words “eye candy” across them. And let’s not forget those darn pageants.

He sees a connection between the sexualization of children and an underground society of pedophiles who pledge allegiances to satanic worship. “There is so much twisted up in this,” says Johnson. “When you look at kids being taken for sacrifices, the numbers go up during certain times of the year [for ritual sacrifice]. Just because we don’t believe in sorcery doesn’t mean that other people don’t.” He goes on to say, “Evil exists because powerful people want it to exist.”

In 2013, there were 462,567entries for missing children under the age of 18 into the FBI's National Crime Information Center. According to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as many as 2,183 children are abducted each day, many by a family member. 

Johnson is currently assembling a team to complete “Supernal Darkness.” In the meantime, he is also trying a hand in the beverage business with a brand of loose-leaf teas with David Edwards at the New Mexico Tea Company. “10 percent of what happens to you is 90 percent how you deal with it,’ says Johnson. “Everyone needs to do their part. Everyone has to pick their part. I’ve chosen my fight.”