It’s no secret that Black Americans haven’t received proper compensation for the centuries that many of our ancestors spent enslaved, as well as the prejudice and Jim Crow segregation that followed. But with the reparations conversation recently being discussed by outspoken activists along with Black journalists Ta-Nehisi Coates, Nikole Hannah-Jones and more, BET co-founder and first Black American billionaire Robert L. Johnson spoke with CNBC about the importance of wealth-building and the benefit of slavery reparations in the Black community.
“We need to focus on wealth creation and wealth generation,” the 75-year-old entrepreneur said in a virtual sit-down with CNBC’s Squawk Box. “And to do that, we must bring descendants of slaves into equality with this nation. And that’s what I proposing, this $14 trillion proposal to provide reparations.”
“Not only for the sin, or the atonement of the sin of slavery and Jim Crowism and desegregation…but to cause America to live up to the concept and notion that this nation was born on the idea of American exceptionalism,” he continued. “And if we take that big leap, I’m convinced that the problems that we confront today can be solved.”
Johnson, who became a billionaire after selling the BET network to Viacom in 2001, also stated during the interview that he’s been championing for reparations for two years now. Continuing the conversation, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet recentlycalled for reparations as a way to “make amends.”
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“I am calling on all states to stop denying — and start dismantling — racism; to end impunity and build trust; to listen to the voices of people of African descent; and to confront past legacies and deliver redress,” she said in a video on the topic.
Her report on the mistreatment against Black people throughout history has also garnered attention, NPR reported. In it, Bachelet claims that a duty is also owed to “guarantee” that racial injustices won’t happen anymore.
