BET founder Robert Johnson: Black Americans get ‘minimal return’ by voting for Democrats

Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson attributed an increased Black vote share for President Trump to the Democratic Party offering “minimal” returns to the community.

“I think Black Americans are getting a little bit tired of delivering huge votes for the Democrats, and seeing minimal return in terms of economic wealth and closing the wealth gap, the job creation and job opportunities,” Johnson said in an appearance on CNBC.

“And Joe Biden was not an inspiring candidate for many Black Americans. And some of them stay at home. Some of them voted for Trump,” he added.

Early analyses of voting data suggest Trump increased his 2016 share of the Black vote in 2020 by between 2 and 4 percentage points. However, Black turnout also appears to have played a key role in Biden’s victory in Michigan and in an unexpectedly close race in Georgia that has yet to be called as of Thursday morning.

Johnson has endorsed $14 trillion in reparations for slavery and has frequently criticized the Democratic Party for what he calls a failure to offer meaningful economic solutions for Black Americans.

“What I believe is that mainstream media and the white, liberal population in general, the only thing that they address the Black community on is what I call placebo paternalism. We will say nice things about you. We will talk about your suffering, we will say that there’s racism throughout the land,” he said. “But when you go to the core issues of what Black Americans really need, that’s access to capital, access to wealth and income.”

Biden’s campaign released the “Biden Plan for Black America” early in the presidential race, which includes strategies to “close the racial wealth and income gaps” and efforts to eliminate racial disparities in health care.