Ben Carson is a tool.
Not the garden variety, but Carson is the type of tool that some racist White people use when they want to prove to themselves that they are not as a racist as they really are.
At CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference), Carson implied that during slavery African-American families were stronger, and that welfare was worse on African-American families than bondage.
Carson said, “When you look at what the Black community has been through go all the way back to slavery. It was the family, the strong family units and the faith in God that got people through that, that got people through Jim Crow, through severe segregation, through all the difficulties.
“But what really had a negative impact was when the government came along (and) said, ‘There, there you poor little thing, I’m going to take care of all your needs and started implementing policies that were destructive to the family formation.”
First of all, that type of ignorance does not deserve a reply.
However, during the volatile times in which we live, it is important that people with sense check nonsense at every turn.
And what Carson said is the most nonsensical thing to come out of the mouth of an African-American in a long time.
Let’s just be real.
Carson made those comments to blame the left for the current African-American plight.
He made those comments to absolve the right of any wrongdoing when it comes to racism.
The former HUD secretary made those comments to reaffirm the right that the actions of liberals are to blame for current race relations such as the teaching of critical race theory and the Black Lives Matter movement, not actual racism such as police brutality, voter suppression, etc.
Carson is the same brother that said that African-American slaves were just immigrants looking for a better life for future generations of their families.
Who cares that African-Americans come from African royalty?
To Carson, being a king or queen in one’s own country is worse than being in bondage in a foreign land, ripped away from one’s family, culture and heritage.
While on the subject of ripping families apart, did Carson forget that during slavery African-American families were torn apart for profit?
Children were ripped away from their mothers’ embrace and protection and sold off to other plantations like they were a simple piece of furniture or an animal.
Fathers were taken away from their mates and their children and sold off to other plantations.
Mothers often suffered the same fate.
Therefore during slavery, actual families lived in fear of separation on a regular basis.
However, what can people expect from a person that served on a presidential administration that brazenly separated parents from their children at the border, regardless of if they were permanently lost forever?
Nevertheless, Carson is correct in that welfare has destroyed many African-American families.
Many African-American fathers, like basketball star Isiah Thomas’ father, Isiah Thomas, Jr., had to leave his wife Mary Thomas and children just so that his family could receive welfare.
Mothers could not receive welfare if the father lived in the home.
Thomas told television personality/former football star Shannon Sharpe that after his father left the home, his parents’ relationship suffered, and their bond was never the same.
So yes, welfare did break up many African-American homes.
However, those African-American families made those decisions for themselves.
Unfortunately, sometimes families can make more money on welfare than they can with two working parents in the home.
While Americans can definitely blame the government for breaking up families with welfare, the government should face more ridicule for not providing a system in which hard-working adults can make a decent living.
Still in 2021, minimum wage is not a livable wage.
As a result, some families, Black and White, make the smart business decision to accept welfare because it is often more than they would receive if they worked full-time, not to mention the exorbitant cost of childcare.
Therefore, staying at home and accepting welfare often makes the most sense, especially to single mothers.
However, those decisions were not forced on them by systemic racism and oppression.
They had a choice and grown folks should be able to make their own choices in America and elsewhere.
On the other hand, African-Americans during slavery had no choice.
It did not matter if the father was the best father on the planet.
If the slave master wanted to break up that family and sell the father, that is what that slave master did.
It did not matter how young the children were.
If the slave master wanted to take a mother’s child out of her arms and sell that child to a plantation in another state, that is exactly what that slave master did.
Because during slavery, the children did not belong to the parents.
Those children belonged to the slave master.
During slavery, the husband did not belong to the wife, and vice versa, because that loving couple belonged to that slave master.
And while welfare has been detrimental to many African-American families, those welfare recipients had and have the opportunity to work themselves out of that predicament, therefore potentially providing a better future for their families.
Obviously, during slavery it did not matter how many pounds of cotton a slave picked; they were unlikely to improve their condition in life.
Some slaves did buy their freedom and the freedom of their loved-ones.
However, those incidents were not very commonplace.
But why should African-Americans expect Carson to understand basic African-American history?
He is a brilliant medical mind.
But when it comes to common sense, he has little.
Unfortunately, that brilliant medical mind has allowed the right to use him as their tool, or better yet their fool.
