Ben Carson: 'Racism now? That is a joke'

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said that racism in 2020 is a “joke” during a speech at a “Black Economic Empowerment” event organized by the Trump campaign on Friday.

“You know, they talk about racism now. Racism now? That is a joke,” Carson said at the Atlanta event. “You know, compared to what I grew up with? That is a joke.”

Carson’s comments came two days after a grand jury in Kentucky refused to indict three police officers in the killing of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman, who was shot six times inside her own apartment. The refusal to charge the officers involved with her death sparked a fresh wave of anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests across the country.

Nationwide protests were first sparked earlier this year after the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white police officer who knelt on his neck for several minutes.

Carson implied on Friday that the ongoing protests were somehow connected to the presidential elections. “Everything won’t be racism after the election,” he claimed. “That’s kind of interesting, isn’t it?”

Contrary to Carson’s conspiratorial claim, protests against racial injustice have occurred in non-election years, including when President Barack Obama was in office.

From a Sept. 25 Trump campaign rally:

BEN CARSON: My mother, who was wise, and who wouldn’t allow us to be victims. And made me read books. I didn’t want to read books, I wanted to watch TV, but she made me read books.

 

And as I read about doctors, and scientists, and historians and entrepreneurs, I began to realize that the person who has the most to do with what happens to you in life is you. It’s not somebody else. And, you know, somebody else cannot stop you.

 

And there was plenty of prejudice in those days. You know, they talk about racism now. Racism now? That is a joke. You know, compared to what I grew up with? That is a joke.

 

And guess what? Everything won’t be racism after the election. That’s kind of interesting, isn’t it?

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.