Story at a glance
- BET executive Robert Johnson suggests that the Black Lives Matter movement develop a political party.
- Johnson previously called for reparations to facilitate economic and social equality.
With the Black Lives Matter movement reigniting the conversation of systemic racism embedded in the U.S. following the police killing of George Floyd, the organization is more influential than ever, having been mentioned millions of times on a daily basis on Twitter.
In television executive Robert Johnson’s opinion, Black Lives Matter should take their power and momentum to Capitol Hill.
Johnson, the cofounder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), told CNBC that “I’ve been convinced for a long time that 40 million African Americans who tend to vote as a bloc in one of the two parties limit their leverage in getting action from both parties.”
Approximately a week prior, Johnson reportedly sent a letter outlining the idea of the movement as a political party.
He suggests that “Black Lives Matter (BLM) consider establishing a formal independent political party. The party could be founded on the principle articulated by the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971.”
Johnson previously made headlines by calling for federal reparations for descendants of slaves to compensate for the persistent social and economic inequality black Americans endure by being disadvantaged since the country’s inception.
“Had African American interests been embraced by one or two of the dominant parties, we wouldn’t have the tremendous social, economic, racial issues that we have now,” Johnson said to reporters.
He also touched on the Black Lives Matter party sending a message to Democrats that the black American vote is not guaranteed, and that Republicans should make racial inequality and civil rights a party priority.
This follows his denouncing of presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden following Biden’s comments saying that “you ain’t black” if you vote for President Trump.
Published on Jun 23,2020