BET founder Robert L. Johnson said Black people laugh at white protesters who tear down statues of Confederate generals and presidents.
The billionaire businessman referred to white protestors as “borderline anarchists” — and he said their actions “absolutely means nothing” to Black Americans.
During an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, Johnson said white people “have the mistaken assumption that black people are sitting around cheering for them saying ‘Oh, my God, look at these white people. They’re doing something so important to us. They’re taking down the statue of a Civil War general who fought for the South.”
Johnson, who became America’s first Black billionaire, said white people tearing down statues is “not going to close the wealth gap. It’s not going to give a kid whose parents can’t afford college money to go to college. It’s not going to close the labor gap between what white workers are paid and what black workers are paid. And it’s not going to take people off welfare or food stamps.”
Johnson continued: “You know, black people, in my opinion, black people laugh at white people who do this the same way we laugh at white people who say, ‘we got to take off the TV shows.'”
“If you ask us what would make you feel better, and we said fine, everybody write us a check starting tomorrow. Eleven thousand dollars every year for the next 30 years. That makes us feel better. You okay with that? That’s what’s missing in this whole thing.
He added: “To me what white people are doing with the idea that they are making us feel good is tantamount to rearranging the deck chairs on a racial Titanic. It absolutely means nothing.”
