Sonnie Johnson: Many Saying ‘Black Lives Matter’ Are Genuine and Need a Reason to Hope

Sonnie Johnson, in the latest episode of her podcast “Did She Say That,” laid out the difference between a “petty” response to the Black Lives Matter movement and a purposeful one.

Johnson said that if she wanted her work to be easier, she would score political points against BLM–and rattled off a great number of talking points to that effect. However, she said, the situation is not that simple, and black communities that are truly in need are not receiving any compassion–just neglect from Republicans and exploitation from Democrats.

I honestly believe that a great portion of the black people that are screaming “Black Lives Matter” — they really mean that black life matters.

That they really know that they are trapped in a f***ing situation where no one gives a damn if they come out on the other side of it. No one takes the time to focus on them. No one takes the time to just stop and see that the s**t is f***ed up.

You are born into a situation where it is very easy for a motherf***er to come along and say, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” But when you have started to see people die at 10, at 11, and everybody around you is on crack and everybody around you is stagnant and nobody is moving and nobody is going anywhere — there is no hope! Where the f**k are they supposed to pull this hope from?

And the only option we’ve given them is to look for it in a politician. That’s where they have to go to get their hope. Because even the black church doesn’t even point them to Jesus anymore; even the black church points them to Democrats. So where do they go to get this hope?

So that’s my purpose. There has to be somebody that gives a f**k enough to just stop and put them first.

“Did She Say That with Sonnie Johnson”  via PodcastOne is available on iTunes. Read more from Sonnie Johnson on this topic here.