Kareem El, a Black former United States Marine Corps captain, was body slammed by American military police in Japan for refusing to provide his identification upon demand – which was his legal right since he is not an active service member.
The incident was captured on video and posted to his brother’s Instagram page where it is going viral, showing the 32-year-old Black man getting slammed to the ground in what appears to be an entertainment district in Okinawa.
“I told you not to f*****g touch me!” El yelled after being body slammed. “Get the f**k off me.”
The video appeared to be recorded by his friend, an American man who repeatedly questioned why they were arresting El, who had done nothing illegal. It does not show what led up to the body slam.
‘Yo, what the f*** are you guys doing?” his friend asked while recording.
A second video posted to El’s brother’s Instagram page shows a handcuffed El speaking with the military police officers who arrested him, questioning the legality of their actions.
“It is not illegal for us to detain you,” one of the military police officer told him.
“You have no right to detain me,” El responded. “I’m not under your policy.”
“You are in our jurisdiction so we still have the right,” the officer responded.
“So could you detain a Japanese guy over there?” El asked.
“Yes, and then we can pass them over to the Japanese police,” the military officer responded.
“Oh, OK, you should pass me to the Japanese police,” El responded.
But they never did hand him over to the Japanese cops, which his brother says is an indicator he had committed no crime. The second video ends with the cops removing the handcuffs from him, apparently allowing him to leave.
“So my lil brother was in Japan launching and promoting his new business,” explained El’s older brother on the Instagram page, Garlic Sensations which is described as a “soul seafood food truck” based out of Maryland.
“It’s rare to see a Black man in Okinawa who isn’t active military but what they didn’t know is he’s a retired Captain with a wall full of honors. Big mistake. Of course he was immediately released. Just got the news!”
El’s brother clarified in another Instagram post that his brother is “separated’ rather than “retired.” The latter term is used to describe service members who spent more than 20 years in the military.
Watch the two videos below which have been combined into one video.
‘A Gentle Soul’
The first video clip was posted on his brother’s Instagram and Facebook pages on Sunday with the Instagram video reaching nearly a million views with nearly 2,000 comments as of this writing, many from people who know El.
“Kareem is a kind gentle soul,” said a woman named Michaela Connolly. “I have no idea what led to this but I can tell you this was highly unnecessary. No violence needed.”
“That pick up and body slam was outrageously unnecessary when he was just standing there,” commented Jocelyn Herbert.
“This was certainly military police overstepping their boundaries, doing ‘presence patrol’ in Japan,” commented M Will, MBA.
“You always have that one overzealous ‘WE GOT ACTION!!’ hero who thinks they’ll get some award for catching service members out past curfew or breaking restrictions. Unfortunately, this group of individuals will find out the hard way: not everyone has to comply with the UCMJ (the Uniform Code of Military Justice).
The video has also gone viral on Facebook by Jolly Good Ginger who has more than 766,000 followers.
“This is unacceptable and these patrols are NOT allowed to put their hands on people like this. wtf is happening to our military under Hegseth????” he wrote in the description.
His brother explained the military police officers were harassing the mostly Black active-duty service members when they approached him, believing he was also active-duty.
“These soldiers were already harassing other American service members when they noticed my brother and decided to violate his rights as a human being,” he said.
“In that part of Japan, the Black male population is 99% active-duty military under a strict curfew. My brother represented the 1% an actual tourist, a businessman, and a free man.”
‘He was Profiled’
As a former marine who was not on a military base, El was under no legal requirement to provide identification to American military police because he is a civilian. The status of forces agreement between Japan and the United States allows MPs to patrol certain Okinawa districts and police American military personnel, but that authority does not extend to U.S. or Japanese civilians, Stars & Stripes reports.
American MPs had been conducting solo patrols — without Japanese police — of certain Okinawa districts since the start of November, a practice Stars & Stripes reports has been halted as the U.S. began an investigation into what happened to El.
His brother described him as a lifelong overachiever who maintained a 4.0 grade point average throughout his entire educational career.
“Captain Kareem El was in Japan preparing to launch his own social media platform when he was kidnapped by American soldiers,” his brother wrote on Instagram.
“The boy is a genius, straight A’s from the very beginning of his education all the way through Howard. He’s the first person I’ve ever known to carry a GPA higher than a 4.0 for most of his academic life.”
El is also the son of a former United States Marine Corps Sergeant who served during the Vietnam War, earning a Purple Heart award. And he was featured on the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation website, an organization that provides scholarships for former marines, which enabled him to graduate from Howard University.
“As I approached my final year at Howard University, I hope to make them proud – my father, the Foundation, my mentors and ROTC,” he wrote in 2015.
“I wanted to show each of them that they made an investment in someone who is going to make a difference. As I walk across the stage and accept my diploma, I want them each to look at me with pride and say, ‘Wow! He did it. He’s doing great!’”
El is currently founder and CEO of a social platform app called 4RL (pronounced “for real”) which is described as a social mobile app designed to create real-life connections and community engagement.
His brother said he was in Okinawa on a personal business trip, most likely related to his company.
Many people commenting on his brother’s video were skeptical because the video did not show what led to the body slam, but his brother said he has almost an hour of footage from the incident that will prove his brother did nothing illegal.
“To the naysayers: walk lightly. When we release the full 50+ minutes, you will have no choice but to eat your words,” his brother wrote.
“And for those asking if he ‘provoked’ anything — stop. We watch this happen every day in America to people who look like us. He was profiled as active duty when he was a civilian. He was in Japan on personal business, not military orders. Yes — a Black man has the right to conduct business overseas without a uniform or a military title.”
