Young Conservative Raises Money for Black Businesses After Rioters Loot and Destroy Them
In the days since Minnesota resident George Floyd died after a police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest, riots have ravaged cities across the country.
While the riots started as protests voicing support for the Black Lives Matter movement, they have since led to the destruction of many businesses owned by African-Americans.
Thanks to one young conservative, however, some of those businesses may have a chance to rebuild.
CJ Pearson, a 2020 high school graduate and popular online conservative commentator, started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for black-owned businesses damaged by the riots.
As of Tuesday, the campaign had raised over $71,500.
The Left is burning down black businesses. The Right is helping them reopen. Join me in supporting this cause: https://w https://t.co/4f5OJhjaOI
— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) June 1, 2020
Pearson spoke to The Western Journal about the campaign, highlighting the differences between left-wing and right-wing actions during the riots.
“The Left is burning down black businesses. The Right is banding together to help them reopen,” he said in a text message.
“Who are the real racists?”
On the GoFundMe page, Pearson explained the full purpose of the campaign.
“ANTIFA is burning down black businesses,” he wrote. “They are hijacking the memory and legacy of George Floyd — who’s life was wrongfully taken — in an attempt to push and advance their own agenda. They’re looting and vandalizing black-owned establishments and blaming black people for doing it. I knew the Left was racist, but wow.
“This is an opportunity for conservatives to show the black community that we stand in support of them, capitalism, and the sacrifices they made to become entrepreneurs in the first place,” Pearson added.
“Over the course of the next few days, I will be working to identify black owned businesses — throughout the country — that suffered damages due to recent events of rioting and looting in their city. Every single disbursement of funds will be accounted for and records will be maintained.”
Many protests over Floyd’s death have since been hijacked and turned into violent riots filled with looting, arson, physical violence and even a handful of shooting deaths.
National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien identified the left-wing “anti-fascist” coalition known as antifa, which has a long history of violence, as one of the main culprits of the riots.
“This is being driven by antifa,” O’Brien said Sunday on CNN.
President Donald Trump also took to Twitter on Sunday to declare the U.S. will be declaring the left-wing coalition as a terrorist organization.
The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2020
“The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” he tweeted.
Last week, an African-American firefighter and small business owner named K.B. Balla, who poured his life savings into Scores Sports Bar in Minneapolis, was forced to deal with the destruction of his bar at the hands of rioters.
While CBS News was interviewing Balla inside of what was left of his businesses, multiple looters were caught on video returning to try and steal his safe.
Thankfully for Balla, the incident went viral, resulting in his own GoFundMe campaign raising over $1 million dollars.
Numerous other black-owned businesses destroyed during these nationwide riots were not so fortunate.
Pearson hopes to help some of those businesses and do something tangible to uplift the black community.
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