Abby Johnson, a white anti-abortion activist who released a YouTube video supporting the probable discrimination of her Black son back in June, is one of the featured speakers at the Republican National Convention Tuesday.
The video was first spotlighted in June by right-wing news outlet The Daily Caller and was later made private, but Vice News managed to get a copy and publish it.
In the video, Johnson, a well-regarded figure in conservative circles for her anti-abortion efforts, spent nearly 15 minutes discussing her adopted biracial son and why it would be "smart" for the police and others to discriminate against him.
“Right now, Jude is an adorable, perpetually tan-looking little brown boy. But one day, he’s going to grow up and he’s going to be a tall, probably sort of large, intimidating-looking-maybe brown man. And my other boys are probably gonna look like nerdy white guys," Johnson said in the video.
She goes on to misinterpret a number of dubious statistics and promote blatantly racist concepts while discussing her son's future interactions with police.
"Statistically, I look at our prison population and I see that there is a disproportionately high number of African American males in our prison population for crimes, particularly for violent crimes," she added.
"So statistically, when a police officer sees a brown man like my Jude walking down the road — as opposed to my white nerdy kids, my white nerdy men walking down the road — because of the statistics that he knows in his head, that these police officers know in their head, they’re going to know that statistically, my brown son is more likely to commit a violent offense over my white sons,” Johnson continued.
According to Vice News, Johnson and her husband adopted their son at birth and she made a name for herself when she quit working for a Texas Planned Parenthood for reasons reporters have questioned, according to Texas Monthly.
As the video goes on, Johnson repeatedly doubles down on the idea that police officers should treat her son differently because he is biracial.
“So the fact that in his head, he would be more careful around my brown son than my white son, that doesn’t actually make me angry. That makes that police officer smart, because of statistics,” Johnson said.
“But if he’s on more high alert with my brown son than he is with my white son, that doesn’t make me angry, because that’s just smart, because of statistics, okay? Now if he acts in an unjust manner toward my brown son than my white son, that makes me angry. But statistically, if he’s on more high alert, I’m not angry about that,” she said.
As many news outlets have since noted, the number of Black people in prison has nothing to do with the potential criminality of Black people.
Studies have repeatedly proven that Black communities are over-policed and Black people statistically receive federal prison sentences that are 20% harsher than white people, according to the United States Sentencing Commission.
Later in the video, she goes deeper into more blatantly racist topics, using the false narrative that Black fathers are not present in their children's lives. Despite research from the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse about the myth of missing Black dads, Johnson reiterates the point as evidence for why more Black people are in prison.
“I believe the primary reason that we see a lot of the illness in our society today and one of the reasons that we’re seeing a lot of what’s happening today in our society is because of fatherlessness, because fathers have not stood up and they have not taken their place in the home and particularly in Black homes. 70% of these dads are walking out on their babies,” Johnson falsely said in the video.
“Black fathers do not get a pass, just because it is culturally different, just because black fathers don’t want to be in the home, and culturally it has been acceptable for them to be with multiple women,” she said.
The CDC released a report showing most Black fathers live with their children than those who don't, HuffPost reported. Additionally, Black dads who live with their children are move involved than fathers of other races.
Johnson defended her use of false statistics on Black fatherhood, saying Black people want to “redefine Black fatherhood because they don’t like that 70% stat.”
“That’s crap. If Black America wants to start writing and talking about something, this is it,” Johnson said.
Johnson's Twitter feed is full of openly bigoted content but she has fought back against claims that she is a racist by using her adopted biracial son.
Dozens of people online begged for authorities to look into how her son is being treated and said it was appalling that someone with views like this could be put in charge of raising a Black child.
I am an adopted brown son of white parents, with a white younger sister who was born to them. I cannot overstate how big of a piece of shit @AbbyJohnson is. She does not deserve to be a mother. https://t.co/89Xt1Rj1Mt
— Adam Nathaniel Peck (@adamnpeck) August 25, 2020
If you are looking to adopt and agree with the statement below made by #abbyjohnson, PLEASE DO NOT ADOPT A CHILD OF COLOR. PLEASE! https://t.co/yozN75a4gx
— Nicole Deniese Harris (@innosinz) August 25, 2020
When she was challenged on her remarks in the video, she said in a now-deleted YouTube video: “Everything I said was actually right on. Everything I said was correct.”