Here’s good news and bad news for admirers and HUD Secretary Ben Carson. Like they say, if you’re explaining, you’re losing, and after Carson took a beating on social media for comments he made about immigrants who came to America below deck on slave ships, he revisited those comments both on the radio and on Facebook and in a series of tweets.
The good news is that he didn’t break down and apologize, something that must have most of the GOP looking on in amazement.
Some had made the point in Carson’s defense that one can be an immigrant against his will; it’s just a shame that Carson muddied the distinction between those who immigrated voluntarily and slaves by saying that “they too had a dream.” Their ancestors, maybe; it’s a point that Townhall contributor Walter E. Williams has made both humorously and eloquently in his progressive-triggering “Proclamation of Amnesty” — but the press allows zero room for slip-ups in the Trump administration.
You can be an involuntary immigrant.. https://t.co/jH0W8SdzaJ
— Ben & Candy Carson (@RealBenCarson) March 7, 2017
Slaves didn't just give up and die, our ancestors made something of themselves https://t.co/mIYb9oHFn8
— Ben & Candy Carson (@RealBenCarson) March 7, 2017
An immigrant is: "a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country." https://t.co/GjNtDhe452
— Ben & Candy Carson (@RealBenCarson) March 7, 2017
I’m proud of the courage & perseverance of Black Americans & their incomprehensible struggle from slavery to freedom https://t.co/R5xVzfRNY8
— Ben & Candy Carson (@RealBenCarson) March 7, 2017
Carson’s Facebook post reads, in part:
The two experiences [the slave narrative and immigrant narrative] should never be intertwined, nor forgotten, as we demand the necessary progress towards an America that’s inclusive and provides access to equal opportunity for all.
We should revel in the fact that although we got here through different routes, we have many things in common now that should unite us in our mission to have a land where there is liberty and justice for all.
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That comes across much better than the lines from his speech to HUD staffers did out of context, but the chance of his post changing the minds of his critics is approximately zero.
Wow, you need professional PR help: Just apologize: Don't be a #dickheadedtom: Lincoln didn't abolish #InvolutaryImmigration
— Dick Sowa (@Mediagig) March 7, 2017
You just need to shut up for the day, you are really making a fool of yourself! Apologize and go on vacation for a while.
— Jesse_B (@JtotheTtotheB) March 7, 2017
https://twitter.com/the3LFoundation/status/838943782041157632
https://twitter.com/mtunison1/status/838929134168354816
Dr. Carson. You owe it to us to make a public apology and stop trying to defend your poorly chosen words. Please sir!
— Keith L. Bell (@TheKeithLBell) March 7, 2017
https://twitter.com/Jenniferloca/status/838961949362827268
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