Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson suggested Friday that fellow African Americans “stop listening to the purveyors of hatred” and dismiss attempts to portray them as victims.
Carson, 68, a retired neurosurgeon, made his comments to Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer, who – after noting several prominent Blacks spoke all four nights of the Republican National Convention including Carson Thursday night – asked why African Americans should heed the GOP’s outreach.
“What they should do is look and see what has happened, what is happening,” said Carson, who went on to cite the lowest unemployment rates ever recorded for Blacks before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, decreasing poverty rates and increasing property values.
“These are the kinds of things that actually mean something to individuals,” he added.
“And stop listening to the purveyors of hatred. You know, what we have are a bunch of people trying to convince other that they are victims. And then you also have a bunch of people being convinced that they should feel guilty.
“That’s a horrible combination: victimhood and guilt. And it creates completely illogical things in our society.”
The conversation began with a video replay of comments made by Letetra Widman, sister of Jacob Blake, who was shot by police responding to a domestic violence call in Kenosha, Wisc., at Friday’s “March on Washington.”
She screamed for Black men to “protect the Black family unit.”
The statement appeared to be at odds with the Black Lives Matter movement, which claims to, according to its own website, “disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement.”
“We see some of these movements cropping up now that are pushing God to the side, that don’t recognize the traditional family unit, and, as a result of that, you find the families falling apart,” Carson said. “You find kids growing up without a real compass, and without a person, or a system, to help them differentiate between right and wrong. And with no guidance, they become very easy prey for others who come along and say ‘We are the answer. We are the savior.’”
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