By LIAM STACK.The New York Times
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson made the comment during a speech to department employees Monday.
Ben Carson’s first full week as secretary of Housing and Urban Development got off to a rough start on Monday after he described African slaves as “immigrants” during his first speech to hundreds of assembled department employees. The remark, which came as part of a 40-minute address on the theme of America as “a land of dreams and opportunity,” was met with swift outrage online.
Mr. Carson turned his attention to slavery after describing photographs of poor immigrants displayed at the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration. These new arrivals worked long hours, six or seven days a week, with little pay, he said. And before them, there were slaves.
“That’s what America is about, a land of dreams and opportunity,’’ he said. “There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less. But they too had a dream that one day their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, great-grandsons, great-granddaughters, might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land.”
The comparison was first reported by USA Today and quickly drew the ire of social media users who attacked the secretary, who is African-American, for what they saw as racially insensitive comments. On Twitter, the comedian and actress Whoopi Goldberg recommended Mr. Carson watch the 1980s mini-series “Roots.”
The Department of Housing and Urban Development was stunned by the uproar and spent part of the afternoon responding to the news media on Twitter. In a statement, it said critics were watching only a short clip from a 30-minute speech and were viewing the remarks in bad faith.
“This is the most cynical interpretation of the secretary’s remarks to an army of welcoming HUD employees,” the department said in a statement. “No one honestly believes he equates voluntary immigration with involuntary servitude!”
A spokesman for the department said Mr. Carson’s speech appeared to cause little upset among the employees who had gathered to hear him speak. Several hundred people attended the event and many lingered afterward to snap selfies with Mr. Carson, who was sworn in last Thursday.
On Monday night, following a radio interview in which he defended his remarks earlier in the day, Mr. Carson also did so on Twitter. “You can be an involuntary immigrant,” he said, adding that “slaves didn’t just give up and die, our ancestors made something of themselves.” He continued, ‘An immigrant is; “a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.”’
Mr. Carson’s speech was not the first time that a newly minted Trump official has caused offense with their handling of African-American history.
Mr. Trump himself has described “inner city” neighborhoods as a crime-ridden “hell” in need of a tough police response, a vision of urban life that has been received unfavorably by many minority leaders.
Last week, the new education secretary, Betsy DeVos, caused an uproar by describing historically black colleges and universities — founded because black students were not allowed to attend segregated white schools — as “real pioneers” of school choice.
She later backtracked, saying in a statement that the history of black colleges and universities “was born, not out of mere choice, but out of necessity, in the face of racism, and in the aftermath of the Civil War.”
Hi!,Sharing with you here audio from Armstrong William’s interview today with HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson who clarified his earlier comments earlier when he referred to slaves as “immigrants” dreaming of a better life in a talk with department employees.
Here are audio clips from the conversation. If used, please credit SiriusXM and SiriusXM’s Armstrong Williams.
HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson clarifies his comments about slaves as immigrants:
AUDIO: https://m.soundcloud.com/siriusxm-news-issues/ben-carson-clarifies-his-comments-about-slaves-being-immigrants
“Think about how our strength is our unity in this country and there are things that we have in common. Go to Ellis Island and look at all those pictures on the wall of immigrants who came here from every part of the world many of them carrying all their earthly belongings in their two hands not knowing what to expect and what a hard life they had but, they didn’t do it for themselves. They did it for their children and their grandchildren. And then I said, there were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships who worked even harder, even longer but they too had a dream that one day their great grandchildren might live in freedom and prosperity in this country…
“Everybody in that auditorium was with me…Did they talk about the good things? Did they talk about the prolonged standing ovation? All the people waiting in line to get pictures? The people who asked very intelligent questions and got good answers?
The lady who stood up and said, ‘Some of us were concerned, we’re not concerned any more.’ They don’t cover that…It’s really kind of sad what the media had deteriorated into.”
Dr. Ben Carson:
“…[Slaves] didn’t just give up and die.”
AUDIO: https://soundcloud.com/siriusxm-news-issues/dr-ben-carson-they-slaves-didnt-just-give-up-and-die
“…numerous people who were brought over here in slave ships and it is a horrible thing. I’m not saying it was not a horrible thing… what I am saying is that those people were strong they were strong-willed. They didn’t just give up and die like many of the other people who they tried to enslave.
And one of the reasons that didn’t give up and die was because they they used their brains that God gave them and they figured a time would come when there would be freedom. A time would come when their children could achieve so, unless you had the ability to maintain that hope and aspiration you just gave up and you died. Our ancestors did not do that.”
Dr. Ben Carson on “involuntary immigrants: “Don’t let anyone turn that into something bad.”
AUDIO: https://soundcloud.com/siriusxm-news-issues/dr-ben-carson-you-can-be-and-involuntary-immigrant
“You can be an involuntary immigrant…We should be proud to have ancestors that had the mental strength to endure what so many others had not been able to endure. They tried to enslave all kinds of people but they were not able to survive it.
That requires a tremendous amount of toughness and will power and hope and faith and they had that. Don’t let anyone turn that into something bad…Slaves came here as involuntary immigrants but they still had the strength to hold on.”
The Armstrong Williams Show airs weekdays at 6:00 pm ET on SiriusXM Urban View channel 126.
Your Editor Wonders: What kind of leadership is this?
