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Ben Carson Just Said Slaves Were “Immigrants” Pursuing “Happiness”

Ben Carson Just Said Slaves Were “Immigrants” Pursuing “Happiness”

Failed presidential candidate and current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson is proving to be a useful ally for the Trump administration’s efforts to whitewash racism and downplay the suffering of African-American citizens.

During his remarks to employees, Carson said that slaves being taken to America to labor against their will were in fact “immigrants:”

“That’s what America is about. A land of dreams and opportunity. 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-granddaughters might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land.”

Just so we’re clear, “immigrants” are people who voluntarily move to a new country for any number of reasons.

Slaves are people who were captured and sold against their will as property to white owners who forced them to labor for free.

Republicans have fought long and hard to excuse the past sins of white Americans, even going as far as to literally rewrite history books in order to defend the South’s racist heritage.

Carson’s remarks came during a typically nonsensical speech which included lengthy ramblings on the brain’s ability to absorb information, which somehow meant that America was “can do” country and not a “what can you do for me” country.

It is horrifying to hear an African-American government official, whose job it is to help alleviate the effects of the institutionalized socioeconomic disenfranchisement of African-Americans, spout such heinous excuses on behalf of an administration that has made its racism official policy.

Watch his remarks here:

Colin Taylor
Opinion columnist and former editor-in-chief of Occupy Democrats. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice and equality in America.

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