BET founder Robert Johnson has called protesters pulling down Confederate and racist statues 'borderline anarchists' and said '...
BET founder Robert Johnson has called protesters pulling down Confederate and racist statues 'borderline anarchists' and said 'black people laugh at white people' doing it, as Donald Trump prepares to use US Marshals to defend monuments nationwide.
Johnson, who became the first black American billionaire in 2001 and has previously called on the US government to provide slavery reparations, blasted protesters for tearing down statues across America and calling for TV shows to be canceled, saying such steps achieve nothing in the fight for racial equality.
'What white people are doing with the idea that they're making us feel good is tantamount to rearranging the deck chairs on a racial Titanic,' he told Fox News Wednesday. 'It absolutely means nothing.'
He said these actions are simply being done by white people to 'assuage their guilt' and urged them instead to 'ask us what we think first'.
His comments come as the president put US Marshals on standby to help protect monuments across America and vowed to come down hard on any protesters destroying or vandalizing them.
Calls have been mounting to take down statues and symbols of racist and Confederate figures amid protests demanding an end to systemic racism in the wake of the Memorial Day 'murder' of black man George Floyd.
BET founder Robert Johnson (pictured) has said 'black people laugh at white people' pulling down Confederate and racist statues because it is meaningless behavior that won't 'close the labor gap' as he branded them 'borderline anarchists'
Johnson, who says Black Lives Matter should form its own political party, said taking down statues misses the point about the inequality black people face every day in America and that it does nothing to close the wealth and opportunity gaps between white and black people.
'Look, the people who are basically tearing down statues, trying to make a statement are basically borderline anarchists, the way I look at it. They really have no agenda other than the idea we're going to topple a statue,' Johnson told Fox News.
'It's 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 said white protesters are misguided in thinking that black people support their efforts to remove statues, cancel TV shows and fire professors who say 'all lives matter', saying 'frankly, black people don't give a damn'.
'[They] 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 said.
'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.'
Johnson slammed the move to cancel shows such as The Dukes of Hazzard which has been blasted over its use of Confederate flags and the move to put a disclaimer at the start of film Gone With The Wind saying of the former that 'I guarantee you it had more black people watching' than white.
He said white people think they are doing these things as a show of support but they are really only doing what they want to make them feel better about themselves.
Protesters gather at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington DC, after the road was opened back upon Wednesday evening
Demonstrators wear Black Lives Matter t-shirts and face masks near the seat of the US government Wednesday night
BET founder Johnson has called for the leaders and supporters of Black Lives Matter to set up their own political party
In New York 'No Justice No Peace' is projected onto the building across the City Hall Wednesday night during a protest calling for the NYPD to be defunded
A sign reads 'City Hall Autonomous Zone' in the Big Apple as Black Lives Matter protestors congregated at City Hall Wednesday night across from One Police Plaza
'White Americans seem to think that if they just do sort of emotionally or drastic things that black people are going to say, "Oh my God, white people love us because they took down a statue of Stonewall Jackson",' Johnson said.
The black entrepreneur gave a call to action for white people to stop assuming they know how to tackle the issue of racism in society and to instead ask black people what they want to happen.
'If you want to decide on statues and you want to treat black people right why don't you do this - why don't you get a group of black people together and say "before we go knock down the statue of Ulysses Grant or this, what do you guys think",' urged Johnson.
'Give us the belief that you respect our opinion. You go out and do something, destroy something, fire somebody because you think it hurts us... why don't you ask us first if it hurts us... ask us if we want you to do that to make us feel better.'
Demonstrators protest in front of a police line on a section of 16th Street in Washington DC that has been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza
Black Lives Matter protesters gather in the day Wednesday days after President Trump threatened people with 10 years' jail time if they damage statues
A protester holds his fist in the air in front of the police line in the US capital Wednesday
The area of Black Lives Matter Plaza is shown cleared of protesters after a failed attempt to take down the statue of President Andrew Jackson at Lafayette Park on Wednesday
The White House is visible behind the Andrew Jackson statue in Lafayette Park, Washington DC, with the word 'killer' spray painted on its base. President Trump has put US Marshals on standby to help protect monuments across America
A 'Defund Police' sign is hung on the fence put up to try to protect the Andrew Jackson statue. Marshals were told to prepare to be drafted in to protect monuments across the nation, according to an email directive seen by The Washington Post Wednesday
He added: 'That's what's missing in this whole thing.'
Johnson even went as far as to say that white America making these decisions on behalf of black people is reinforcing the idea that white people know best.
'To me when I see all of these things - changing names, toppling statues, firing professors because they said "all lives matter" it just shows me that white America is still continually incapable of recognizing that black people have their own ideas and thoughts about what's in their best interests,' he said.
The debate over the removal of statues has heated up this week, with Trump warning protesters will be hit hard by law enforcement if they take matters into their own hands.
US Marshals have been told to prepare to be drafted in to protect monuments across the nation, according to an email directive seen by The Washington Post Wednesday.
In the email, Marshals Assistant Director Andrew C. Smith said they had 'been asked to immediately prepare to provide federal law enforcement support to protect national monuments (throughout the country).'
Smith wrote that it was a 'challenging assignment due to the breadth of possible targets for criminal activity'.
A Joint Operations Center is being set up in Springfield, Virginia, to coordinate the assignment and every deputy in the Special Operations Group will be ready to be called in by Thursday, the email read.
Smith also called on other districts and divisions to volunteer deputies to help in the effort.
It is not clear what the role of the Marshals will be but they have been called on for their assistance until July 8, according to the Post.
The unusual move to send in the Marshals comes after around 400 members of the National Guard were activated to Washington DC to protect a statue of President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park which has been fenced off after protesters failed to topple it on Monday.
Riot police blasted the crowds with pepper spray to prevent the statue's destruction Monday and Trump threatened anyone who vandalizes a monument or statue will face up to 10 years in prison.
As the question of racist statues continues to divide the nation, Johnson raised the question over whether white people would be so willing to tackle the issue of racism if they were told to pay reparations over America's history of slavery.
A group of Black Lives Matter protestors prepare banners at City Hall in New York Wednesday
Protests have been mounting across America calling for an end to police brutality and systemic racism following George Floyd's 'murder'
New York protesters gather outside City Hall Wednesday and organize supplies ahead of a nighttime protest
'If you ask us what will make us feel better and we go "ok everybody start writing checks starting tomorrow $11,000 every year for the next 30 years that makes us feel better, are you okay with that?"' he asked.
'To me it falls into that attempt by white Americans to assuage guilt by doing things that make them feel good but if you ask those same white people "hey guys just write a $350,000 check to black people over the next 30 years, leave those statues alone just just give us $350,000" you find it goes into "are you sure they're going to use the money wisely? Are you sure that's going to stop racism?"'
Johnson has previously called on the US government to pay out $14 trillion for descendants of the slave trade.
He also went on to mock white celebrities who have taken to social media to apologize for being white.
'You know, that to me is the silliest expression of white privilege that exists in this country. The notion that a celebrity could get on a Twitter feed and say, "oh, my God, I am so sorry that I am white." I don't find any black people getting on Twitter and saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry I'm black",' he said.
Cops stand guard around the statue. Johnson said white people taking down statues is 'tantamount to rearranging the deck chairs on a racial Titanic. It absolutely means nothing'
Johnson said these actions are simply being done by white people to 'assuage their guilt' and urged them instead to 'ask us what we think first'
Johnson's comments come as calls have been mounting to take down statues and symbols of racist and Confederate figures from public places across America amid protests demanding an end to systemic racism in the wake of the Memorial Day 'murder' of black man George Floyd by a white cop. Pictured the BLM plaza is cleared of protesters on Wednesday
A lone cop cycles through the empty plaza. In Washington DC the National Guard has been called in to guard statues
The view of a fence put up around closed-off Lafayette Park across the street from the White House on Wednesday
Protesters sit near police in the plaza. Police have pushed the police line back to include a block of the area
Workers remove part of the cannon at the base of the equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson
'And we got the worst problems, hand dealt to us of any people in this country but were not running away from being black. We're embracing being black.
'My thing is: embrace being white and do the right thing and then you don't have to sorry about being sad because you're white.'
Johnson's comments come after he called on Black Lives Matter to launch a political party dedicated to tackling racism and improving opportunities for black people.
The black businessman penned a letter to the movement's leaders and supporters suggesting 'Black Lives Matter (BLM) consider establishing a formal independent political party.'
He wrote: 'The party could be founded on the principle articulated by the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971' of black people having 'no permanent friends, no permanent enemies... just permanent interests.'
'I’ve been convinced for a long time that 40 millions African Americans who tend to vote as a bloc in one of the two parties limit their leverage in getting action form both parties,' he told CNBC Tuesday.
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