Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson shot to the top of Twitter’s trending topics Monday afternoon after news got out that in his first address to HUD staffers, he’d referred to “immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships” but who also held onto a dream of prosperity in America.
https://twitter.com/SteveKopack/status/838840835445833728
Immigrants??? https://t.co/f0RH7iXBrn
— NAACP (@NAACP) March 6, 2017
President Trump alone has served a hostile public and press more gift-wrapped quotes like that one than we care to defend, but a HUD spokesperson said no one in the room took Carson’s comments the wrong way.
HUD spox says no one in the room believed Secretary Ben Carson "was confusing voluntary immigration with involuntary servitude. Please."
— Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro) March 6, 2017
That disclaimer, of course, will have no effect whatsoever on shortening the news cycle surrounding Carson’s controversial comment, but not surprisingly, people came down on Carson hard, including some black celebrities and other blue checkmarks who didn’t mince words … words that would sound unequivocally racist were it not a black conservative who was the target.
OK!! Ben Carson….I can't! Immigrants ? In the bottom of SLAVE SHIPS??!! MUTHAFUKKA PLEASE!!!#dickheadedtom
— Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) March 6, 2017
That’s a hashtag you don’t see every day.
.@SamuelLJackson This is @realDonaldTrump & Ben Carson in on gif. He's gon' protect the house! That's why they made him head of HUD. pic.twitter.com/HGHVcZUQ7B
— Villain McBeardface (@tshakaarmstrong) March 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/TheCandaceSmith/status/838907106002554880
Let’s get a legal opinion on Carson’s comments from Star Jones.
Did Carson start out as a self-hating coon, or did he develop his "coonery" over time? #QuestionsThatKeepMeAwake # https://t.co/N1Tgys6i25 https://t.co/rOqWTb4Q0R
— Star Jones (@StarJonesEsq) March 6, 2017
Ouch. It’s worth noting, though, that Monday certainly wasn’t the first time “black face GOP political minstrel” Carson was called that on social media. It doesn’t take much, frankly.
Maybe Sinbad could provide a more family-friendly take?
Ben Carson: Slaves Were Immigrants Who Came Here And Worked Really Hard 'For Less'..this negro is straight up crazy https://t.co/y1W8RCPfF2
— Sinbad (@sinbadbad) March 6, 2017
Whoopi “Rape Rape” Goldberg kept things in check, reminding Carson that he was talking about slave slaves, not immigrants.
Ben Carson..please read or watch Roots, most immigrants come here VOLUNTARILY,cant't really say the same about the slaves..they were stolen
— Whoopi Goldberg (@WhoopiGoldberg) March 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/Watchingyeahok/status/838852477680242688
https://twitter.com/jailainhollon/status/838902346142912512
Ben Carson referred to slaves as "Immigrants With A Dream" this nigga the coon of the year
— Sosa Chamberlain (@Forest__Hump) March 6, 2017
Enjoy the racial epithets now, stay tuned for the week’s worth of think pieces.
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