Ben Carson Is Terrible for Black Americans

By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, TIME

05 November 15

 

Is he a success story? Yes. Would his presidency be an unmitigated disaster? Yes

ow that Ben Carson is the leading GOP candidate, the doctor is under a lot more pressure, not just as a candidate, but as a representative of African Americans. The lifelong burden of a minority is that they feel as if everything they do or say reflects not just on their own character, but also on how the rest of their group will be judged by the ruling majority. Jon Stewart satirized this truth on The Daily Show with “Is This Good for the Jews?” in which he assessed how news about prominent Jewish people reflected on all Jews.

Would President Ben Carson be good for African Americans?

Ben Carson is good for African Americans in that he is a deeply moral man who has done much good as a physician and now wants to upsize his good-doing on a national and global scale. His success story is the stuff the American Dream is made of and is motivation for others to follow his path. His accomplishments as a medical doctor are admirable and serve as an inspiration for young black men and women seeking a career in science. His measured, even groggy demeanor, commands attention and respect. Had he decided to dedicate his post-retirement life to promoting STEM education across the country, he would have been a model for the American ideal that anything is possible.

However, he chose to run for president of the U.S., and that’s bad for African-Americans. His repressive, muddled and pious policies and opinions often run against our Constitution—but his questionable proposals will likely, thankfully, be doomed by his lack of political expertise. His presidency would be marked by even worse gridlock while he wastes his time trying to impose his narrow and sometimes ill-informed morality on the other 319 million people in the nation. And it would definitely not be good for African Americans to have a president who flounders helplessly in office because it would perpetuate the stereotype that blacks can’t be effective CEOs, quarterbacks and leaders.

Although Carson is a celebrated physician, he has expressed several opinions that are contrary to scientific evidence and therefore call into question his logic—a quality crucial in a president. His claim that sexual orientation is a choice is remarkably unscientific. He has argued that “a lot of people” in prison change their sexual orientation. As many people have pointed out, sexual behavior is not the same as orientation. Plus, studies indicate the most significant causes of sexual orientation are genetics and in utero hormonal exposure. According to the American Psychological Association, “most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.” For a physician to ignore the preponderance of scientific proof in favor of his own religious beliefs is dangerous because is it justifies enacting laws that restrict human and civil rights. Carson has since apologized, but we should never forget that pseudo-science was used to prove blacks were physically and mentally inferior to whites and to justify slavery.

But Carson’s opposition to science doesn’t stop there. Global climate change is a major issue affecting the future of human life. International conferences take place in order to determine how quickly this process is proceeding, and studies show that 97% of actively publishing climate scientists conclude human activity has caused climate warming. Yet Carson says he has not seen “overwhelming science” that proves climate change is manmade. This head-in-the-sand approach could prove disastrous to the country’s survival, never mind the Earth’s. This comes on the heel of his refutation of the Big Bang theory based on the second law of thermodynamics; physicists responded by explaining that Carson misunderstood and misstated the actual law. His judgment as a man of science was also compromised last February when he blamed an outbreak of measles on illegal immigrants from South and Central America; the Centers for Disease Control concluded that the strains were genetically similar to those found in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Further, there was no way of knowing whether it came from an immigrant, legal or not, or from Americans traveling abroad or even just from here.

Again, when an elected leader ignores testimony from 97% of the world’s experts, renowned physicists and the CDC, we have to question his decision-making abilities. Carson perpetuates the black stereotype of someone who’s too confused or frightened by all that complicated science so he or she ignores it, clinging to superstitions or religion. Obviously, white politicians have been making the same buffoonish claims, but they aren’t representative of a minority struggling to achieve equality.

The president often advocates for the kind of educational system we should have. President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind had a devastating effect on education that we are now changing. President Barack Obama recently called for less testing in school because the focus on mandated testing has taken away from classroom instruction. Education reform is especially important for the black community because of the overwhelming evidence that black children are not receiving the same quality of education as white students. A 2014 U.S. Education Department survey concluded that students of color in public schools are punished more and receive less access to experienced teachers than white students. The same study shows this leads to lower academic performance for minorities, putting them at greater risk of dropping out of school. At the same time, education is under attack by people wishing to rewrite history. McGraw-Hill textbooks in Texas referred to slaves as “workers” who immigrated to the U.S. rather than were kidnapped. Ben Carson, who defers to his religious faith in the face of scientific evidence, does not seem like a strong advocate for quality education.

It’s also alarming to hear Carson refer to black Americans as unable to think for themselves because they disagree with him. “I think black Americans over the course of this next year,” Carson said, “will begin to see that they have been manipulated very, very largely.” This statement implies that blacks have been manipulated but not whites because they don’t have the same intellectual capacity to resist.

A Carson presidency would also be a direct attack on the health of African-Americans: he equated the Affordable Care Act to a form of slavery. Between 2013 and 2014, Obamacare reduced the number of uninsured blacks from 24.1 percent to 16.1 percent. It also funded community health centers, where African Americans make up nearly 25% of the patients, to the tune of $11 billion. This is a matter of life and death, not political posturing. Black Americans have a life expectancy about five years shorter than white Americans. If you’re black, you have a higher chance of dying than whites in eight of the top 10 causes of death. Black deaths from cancer are much higher than white deaths. Blacks are twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than whites. Yet Carson’s own health-care plan, which he proposed last week, is vague and lacks substance. According to the Washington Post, “it would neither expand access to health care nor improve quality, nor save a whole lot of money.” But it would get rid of the Affordable Care Act.

Actually, poverty is the form of slavery that is most insidious in America, and it is perpetuated by institutional racism, which Ben Carson seems to deny exists. African Americans are particularly hit hard by poverty: 38.3% of black children lived in poverty in 2013. Yet, Carson insists that the black community must resist government handouts that have made us a welfare state. He praises blacks in history who have pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps to make something of themselves despite harsh circumstances. He further states: “We must not allow their sacrifice to become meaningless by allowing ‘do-gooders’ to replace the chains of overt racism with the new chains of dependency, low expectations, victimhood and misdirected anger.” What makes this rallying cry so disingenuous is the fact that his mother received government assistance while he was growing up, which he acknowledges was crucial. The government gave him free eyeglasses as a child, which improved his grades. In his book, Gifted Hands, he says, “By the time I reached ninth grade, mother had made such strides that she received nothing but food stamps. She couldn’t have provided for us and kept up the house without that subsidy.”

In 2014, a United Nations Human Rights Council questioned U.S. delegates about what they claimed were continuing racial discrimination against African-Americans and other minorities in jobs, housing, education, health care, and the criminal justice system. U.N. experts concluded that segregation in the U.S. “was nowadays much worse than it was in the 1970s” and that “some 39 million African Americans are particularly affected by structural racial discrimination in the United States.” If Carson refuses to acknowledge institutional racism, then it is unlikely he will do much to alleviate the problem.

Founding Father Thomas Paine, in support of the American Revolution, said, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” The trying times haven’t changed because America by its nature is always in the midst of social revolution. We are always striving to do better for our people by fulfilling the promise of a democratic Eden here and now. How we participate in that revolution determines who we really are. These are the times when all Americans need a champion willing to fight hard to fix the problems that affect people from all walks of life, not deny or ignore them. Ben Carson is not that champion.

Minority of One, a documentary on Abdul-Jabbar’s life and career, premieres Nov. 3 on HBO Sports.

Bernie's Revolution Can Help Us Take the Democratic Party Back

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

05 November 15

 

lmost a year ago I wrote an article called “We Can Take the Democratic Party Back.”

The comment section was full of skepticism. Eleven months later, we are closer to that reality than anytime in the last 30 years. We are not there yet and we have a long way to go. There is, however, a path in front of us and a leader showing us the way to victory.

Imagine Debbie Wasserman Schultz putting together a platform committee that will meet the approval of the nominee of the Democratic Party, whose name is Bernie Sanders. Imagine a platform that is approved by a convention with a majority of delegates supporting Bernie Sanders.

It can happen if we all roll up our sleeves and work to get Bernie Sanders elected. I have been in Iowa for nine months now, and everywhere I go I see signs that Bernie is going to win. I see Bernie buttons on cashiers in checkout lines, and anytime I have Bernie gear on people compliment it.

When I cover various political events, a lot of the crowd is usually undecided or checking out the candidate. Not at Bernie events, where the crowds are excited and committed to the Bern.

I can make no promises here, we have a long way to go, but there is a better chance for us to take control of the Democratic Party than there is to make a third party viable in our lifetime. Yes, we could lose it back to the corporatists as fast as we gain control, but the reward is worth the risk.

It is always an uphill battle to unseat entrenched power, but we have not had a better chance to wrest power from the corporate Democrats than we have today. The various grassroots efforts that are backing Bernie can have a long-term effect if we focus some energy on taking back the party.

We should be packing Bernie’s delegate slates with progressives who are tired of the corporate influence in the party. We need to stop complaining about Debbie Wasserman Schultz and position ourselves to choose the next DNC chair.

The organizations are forming already – Grassroots for Bernie, People for Bernie, Bernie 2016 TV ... If we band together with groups like Progressive Democrats of America and Democrats for America with the focus on taking back the Democratic Party, we could ride a Bernie Sanders victory to a takeover of the party that groups like the Democratic Leadership Council stole from us decades ago.

As Bernie says at every rally, Think Big! It is time to take down the machine.

I can hear many of you saying the system is rigged, we can’t beat them. They count on us believing that. They count on us surrendering power to them. Of course they have rigged the system in their favor, but part of what they count on is us staying on the sidelines and accepting whatever crumbs they throw our way.

It’s a machine we are up against, but again as Bernie says in every speech, if we stand together there is nothing we can’t accomplish. We may fail, but we guarantee failure if we don’t try. I understand people’s skepticism, the system has beat back every other attempt. Maybe this time it is different. Some of you are saying, we believed Obama and look where that got us. Barack Obama did NOT run against the establishment. Barack Obama turned his grassroots organization over to the DNC the day he got elected. Bernie won’t do that. His campaign is a movement whose role continues the day after he is sworn in.

What do we need to do? Join the political revolution and get involved in the local party organizations. I remember when I was in Miami, the local party there was in gridlock because they couldn’t get a quorum to meetings. If a bunch of progressives had joined and gotten active they could have taken over the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.

Volunteer on the campaign, run for delegate, volunteer in the various grassroots groups popping up to support the revolution. Run for office.

In the words of Frederick Douglass, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” And remember, Victor Hugo was right: “All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.”

So we can continue to complain or we can stand up and fight. Our time has come, if we seize it.

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Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.