Robert Johnson, the founder of BET, said black people should consider creating an independent political party.
The media magnate, who sent a letter to Black Lives Matter urging the movement to form an independent political party and has called on the U.S. government to provide reparations for slavery, told CNBC on Tuesday that black people should not be married to one of the two existing major parties.
“I’ve been convinced for a long time that the 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, and I think it’s time that African Americans form an independent party, not be an appendage of one party or ignored by the other party,” he said.
BET founder Robert Johnson is calling on the Black Lives Matter movement to form an independent political party. “I think it’s time that African Americans form an independent party, not be an appendage of one party or ignored by the other party.” pic.twitter.com/WBIyfbxAVx
— CNBC (@CNBC) June 23, 2020
The billionaire and lifelong Democrat wrote a letter to Black Lives Matter on June 17 urging it to form a political party of its own to break the two-party system that dominates the United States.
“I am writing to you with a suggestion 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. That formative principle stated, ‘Black people have no permanent friends, no permanent enemies. … just permanent interests,'” Johnson wrote.
“They will argue that the American people seem to be satisfied with just two choices,” he added. “To the contrary, I believe a politically astute and structured Black independent party, committed and engaged in the electoral process, can prove them wrong.” He concluded, “The purpose of this memo is to encourage you to harness these forces and think about what you have ignited and how it can and should, through the political process, cause America to truly live up to its belief in American exceptionalism and its promise of the American Dream for all.”
The media mogul proposed the idea as protesters across the country have demonstrated against police brutality and racial inequality across the country following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died on Memorial Day after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Black voters overwhelmingly support Democratic candidates, but black voter turnout fell in 2016, when Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, recently said that if someone was wondering whether they should vote for him or President Trump, “You ain’t black.” Biden later apologized for the remark, but Johnson said that it highlighted the need for a new party even if it doesn’t happen this election cycle.
Johnson, a Democratic donor, said in November of last year that the 2020 election is President Trump’s to lose.
