‘Damages is a normal factor in a capitalist society for when you have been deprived for certain rights…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, suggested on Monday that the best way to relieve racial tensions in the U.S. is to provide black Americans with a $14-trillion reparations package.
Protesting the death of George Floyd, who was killed after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, is not enough, Johnson told CNBC on Monday. The U.S. federal government must also combat lingering inequalities through “wealth transfer,” he said.
“Now is the time to go big, short answers to long horrific questions about the stain of slavery are not going to solve the inequality problem,” he explained.
“Wealth transfer is exactly what’s needed,” he continued. “Think about this: Since 200-plus-years or so of slavery, labor taken with no compensation, is a wealth transfer. Denial of access to education, which is a primary driver of accumulation of income and wealth, is a wealth transfer.”
Black Americans face a racial disadvantage as a result of slavery and segregation, Johnson argued, and should thus be awarded compensation for the hardships they’re experiencing.
“Damages is a normal factor in a capitalist society for when you have been deprived for certain rights,” Johnson said.
Reparations would force white Americans to acknowledge the “damages that are owed,” Johnson continued.
Several other leftists, such Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; and Cory Booker, D-N.J., have expressed support for reparations in the past.
However, this policy undoubtedly would increase tensions within the U.S., since it would deny the real and compressive measures Americans of all skin colors have taken to fight racism and end segregation, according to Deroy Murdock.
“Democrats cannot inspire people with a vision of united Americans sharing an even greater nation,” Murdock explained in a column last year. “Instead, they launch carcinogenic schemes in hopes of riding waves of intense racial strife.”