The National Action Network will review James Johnson's status with the civil rights organization in response to his comments earlier this week that criticized "Arab" and "foreigner" business owners," but Johnson says he isn't sorry.
Johnson will meet with leaders of the organization's national office during an annual convention in New York at the end of the month, according to the Rev. Nelson Rivers, vice president of religious affairs and external relations for NAN.
Johnson has held the staff position of state president of NAN for about two years. On Monday, he held a press conference to address a cellphone video from Andrew's Discount Market in North Charleston. The three-minute recording shows its employees hitting a black shoplifting suspect with a sword and pushing him around the store in March. The suspect was charged with shoplifting.
James Johnson, state president of the National Action Network, speaks to reporters across the street from Andrew's Discount Market in North Charleston on Monday, April 3. Angie Jackson/Staff
Johnson questioned whether the store owners are in America legally and said the business's employees "need to go back to their country where their laws are different from our laws.”
Accompanied by relatives of the shoplifting suspect, Johnson spoke broadly as he accused "Arab" and "foreigner" stores in the North Charleston area of taking money from the black community and not investing back into it. At one point, he said the group was not going to allow such stores to "rape our community anymore."
Johnson has since issued a statement saying his comments "were not meant to stereotype any class of person."
"Regarding the foreigners quote: I assumed they were not citizens because U.S. citizens should know better than to commit the offenses they committed against this man," his statement said.
Johnson made it clear Wednesday that he is not apologizing. He stands by his statements.
"By no means is this an apology," he told a reporter. "It's to clarify. I was not painting a broad brush of all Arab people, just the two people in that store."
Rivers, a North Charleston pastor, said NAN does not support discriminatory comments about people of Middle Eastern descent or any community. African-Americans know better than anyone else how it feels to be labeled as a group for the actions of a few individuals, he said.
"That is never our policy to make discriminatory comments or to imply that anyone should be deported or treated differently because of their national origin or their heritage," Rivers said.
Rivers said NAN supports Johnson's efforts to address "a much wider problem," adding that Johnson has asked to meet with representatives of the Middle Eastern business community to discuss how black patrons feel about their treatment. He said the local NAN office has received several complaints of derogatory comments directed at black women.
"But how widespread that is and where that is, that’s what we will continue to find out. I have personally heard some of those complaints," said Rivers, who is hoping for a constructive dialogue. "We think there has to be some meaningful way to address this issue."
Johnson encouraged a boycott of Andrew's Discount Market, which he said he hoped would force the business to close. On Wednesday, a handful of protesters remained outside the business, which was closed. One man held a flag along Dorchester Road that said "Black Lives Matter."
The convenience store was issued a violation this week for not renewing its business license. Charleston County spokesman Shawn Smetana said it is standard procedure for the notices to be issued beginning in April for any business that hasn't renewed its license.
The Rev. Thomas Ravenell sat in a nearby parking lot next to a sign that said "Don't buy here." He said he and others planned to return to the store each day this week in preparation for the store to re-open.
An owner of Andrew's Discount Market referred questions to an attorney, who did not immediately return a request for comment.