Long active in the NAACP in Georgia, in 2006 he was appointed as Southeast Region Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). After the national organization restructured and closed the regional offices, he served as Executive Director of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP. On October 5, 2013, he was described as the civil rights organization's youngest President at the 71st Civil Rights Convention in Columbus, Georgia. Johnson is the Convener of Moral Monday Georgia Movement, a multi-issue, multiracial, nonpartisan coalition of organizations aimed at restoring positive morality to public discourse, policy, and politics.