Robert Johnson, the founder of B.E.T., is a billionaire asset manager, who has clearly done well for himself in the face all of the “racism” designed to keep him down. Despite his obscene wealth, he says all blacks in America are owed slave reparations, including himself and other rich black people like Oprah Winfrey. Johnson is demanding the federal government (taxpayers) pony up $15 trillion and cut him a big fat check too.
In an interview with VICE, Johnson threw out some numbers:
“Reparations would require the entire country to … admit that the result of slavery has been 200 years of systemic racism and for that reason Black folks have been denied $13-15 trillion of wealth and therefore we as a country now must atone by paying Black people of all stripes —the rich ones, the poor ones, and the middle—out of our pocket,” said Johnson.
Where does he get this $15 trillion figure from? If Africans had never been brought to America in the slave trade, they would accrued exactly zero dollars and zero cents of wealth as neolithic-era African tribesmen. Johnson sure as hell wouldn’t be a billionaire unless owning 2 grass huts in Africa is the equivalent of being a billionaire in Africa.
Johnson also said the he and other rich black people are actually more deserving of reparations because they have a proven track record of investing money. According to Johnson, reparations should be an investment rather than charity:
Much of that education needs to be dedicated to ensuring that reparations is an investment program rather than a charity program, Johnson argues, and that means wealthy and famous Black Americans like himself—he also names Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James — also should be paid.
It just makes good business sense to put capital in the hands of those who have shown they know how to put it to work, he says, if a government program is to be a successful economic stimulus that repairs Black communities.
“If you’re a successful black business, the idea is you’ve had enough. No one ever asks if [a white-owned business] is too rich to benefit from investing in a football stadium,” Johnson said.
Reparations would be the federal government giving money to black people who didn’t earn it and don’t deserve it. A white-owned business investing its money in a football stadium is a business using it’s own money to increase its wealth. These 2 things are not the same.
Johnson is damnding $15 trillion in slave reparations but he doesn’t exactly explain where that money is going to come from. Obviously, it would come from us, but we don’t have a spare $15 trillion laying around. If for some insane reason Congress passed a $15 trillion reparations spending bill, inflation would go through the roof and that money would be worthless. Surely Johnson, as an asset manager, understands this.
Also not explained is why all of the American people owe blacks anything at all. I never owned slaves nor did any of my ancestors. My family didn’t even come to America until after slavery was abolished. Even if my family had owned slaves, how is that my fault? If my great great great grandfather stole a turnip 200 years ago, I’m not legally on the hook to compensate the victim’s descendants.
