Robert Johnson is the founder of Black Entertainment Television. He is also America’s first black billionaire. But despite his success as a black living in America, he says the United States is not doing enough to help black Americans.
Johnson also says training in Critical Race Theory is not enough. Even Black Lives Matter protests are not enough.
So, what’s enough?
$14 trillion in payments to the descendants of slaves – including HIMSELF – should make up for the past injustices against black people, he says.
The 75-year-old said, “We want to end systemic racism, we want to end police brutality and shootings and provide financing to black small business owners.”
The country needs “one big bill” and for it “stand up and apologize” as a way to tackle the wealth disparity between black and white Americans.
White America, he said, needs to say, ‘please forgive us and accept our apology.”
And, of course, reparations need to be paid.
There would be two components to reparations, Johnson said.
The first component would be for “atonement.” And the second component for “monetary.”
Saying “simple math” proves black Americans are suffering from past injustices, Johnson said the average white person has a net worth of $350,000, while the average black person has a net worth of only $30,000.
(The Federal Reserve’s 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances says the median net worth of a white person is $188,200 and for blacks, $24,100)
“Reparations is a debt owed by the nation as a whole because all of the wealth that was taken from slaves. Free labor is a transfer of wealth,” he told Fox.
Reparations should be handed out regardless of a black person’s net worth.
Johnson, himself, is a billionaire, owns several homes, has a majority stake in the NBA team, the Charlotte Bobcats, but still deserves reparations, he says. So too does Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
In April, the House Judiciary Committee passed HR 40 to establish a 13-person commission to study whether the descendants of slaves should receive compensation from the U.S. government.
Whether the bill will make it to the House floor is not guaranteed. But there’s little chance it will pass the 50-50, filibuster-proof Senate if it does pass the House.
