BET Founder Robert Johnson Calls For $14 Trillion In Reparations From Slavery

BET Founder Robert Johnson Calls For $14 Trillion In Reparations From Slavery

BET Founder Robert Johnson wants $14.7 Trillion dollars in reparations, to send a signal to white Americans to acknowledge that “damages that are owed” for the unequal playing field created by slavery.

He said in an interview with CNBC on Monday (June 1st):

“Now is the time to go big.”

Robert Johnson said he feels as if police brutality against blacks is at the root of why protests have erupted in many states, following the killing of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis.

Robert Johnson says the money would help to reduce racial inequality, and doesn’t feel like $14 trillion isn’t a reach.

“Is $14 trillion too much to ask for the atonement of 200 plus years of brutal slavery, de facto and de jure government-sponsored social and economic discrimination and the permanent emotional trauma inflicted upon black Americans by being forced to believe in a hypocritical and unfulfilled pledge that ‘all men are created equal’?”
He also adds that the officers involved in the George Floyd case should be presented in a court of law, and accept the “appropriate punishment,”
“Demand that those being charged in this case be presented to a court of law and that the court render the appropriate verdict and punishment, that has been my answer to every tragic situation like this; and, regrettably it will be the answer when this happens again, as it most certainly will.”

Robert Johnson made history as America’s first black billionaire when he sold BET to Viacom in 2001.  He goes on to say that he has been pushing for reparations since last year,

“I’m not new to this challenge… [We don’t need] more bureaucratic programs that don’t deliver and don’t perform.”

He stressed,

“I’m talking about cash. We are a society based on wealth. That’s the foundation of capitalism.”

Do you think $14 Trillion dollars is asking for too much? Let us know in the comments!

 

Authored by: Demi Lobo