Ben Carson Thinks Ferguson Shooting Had 'Nothing To Do With Race'

[DonViejo]

By CATHERINE THOMPSON Published AUGUST 25, 2014, 7:54 AM EDT

Conservative darling Dr. Ben Carson said Sunday that the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo. had "nothing to do with race."

The retired neurosurgeon and Fox News contributor made the comment on a "Fox News Sunday" segment where he discussed the shooting with Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has called 18-year-old Michael Brown's death a "state execution."

Carson said he wasn't sure that the Ferguson shooting, which sparked over a week of heated protests against law enforcement, was a "police versus black community issue." He said that "anger issues" could get in the way for young men, based on his own experience.

“If you take race out of the issue altogether and you take a group of young men and you raise them with no respect for authority, not learning to take on personal responsibility, having easy access to drugs and alcohol, they’re very likely to end up as victims of violence or incarceration,” he said. “Has nothing to do with race.”

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ben-carson-ferguson-had-nothing-to-do-with-race

[shenmue]

1. What an idiot

[Boudica the Lyoness]

16. He is not an idiot and I agree with this..

“If you take race out of the issue altogether and you take a group of young men and you raise them with no respect for authority, not learning to take on personal responsibility, having easy access to drugs and alcohol, they’re very likely to end up as victims of violence or incarceration,” he said. “Has nothing to do with race.”

[shenmue]

17. Are you kidding?

Another one for the Ignore list.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

18. No, I'm not kidding.

You see I see nothing to kid about when raising a black son, like I did, in America.

I raised my son to a man to be proud of. As I have stated numerous times here, he retired from the US Air Force this year. Well done him!

The good doctor, who you call an idiot, knows what he's talking about ans so do I.

Opps, I didn't march in lock step, I sang out of tune, and so I will not be listened to. Your loss.

[cantbeserious]

2. Let The Character Assassination Begin

eom

[DetlefK]

3. Where is a story of a white fleeing teenager getting gunned down by police?

The are more white people than black people in the US, so it shouldn't be a problem finding one.

[hatrack]

4. Pandering, pathetic dumbass

.

[gollygee]

5. So basically

Last edited Mon Aug 25, 2014, 09:57 AM - Edit history (1)

he thinks it has nothing to do with race, and is all Michael Brown's fault. Look at the assumptions he makes about Michael Brown: raised with no respect for authority, has easy access to drugs and alcohol. And he seems to assume that Michael Brown has anger issues in the paragraph about that.

That's what happens. People make all sorts of assumptions about African Americans, and dehumanize them, and then it's very easy to justify reacting way too strong to problems involving them. Even killing them.

ETA that yes I know Ben Carson is black but people of color can internalize racism just like women can internalize sexism. It is all around us, and we're all raised in this culture.

[Bjorn Against]

6. I doubt he actually thinks that

He has just sold himself out to a group which is extremely racist and he knows that if he were to be honest they would abandon him.

[Orsino]

7. Have we found anything thay Carson won't say for Fox money? n/t

[haele]

9. He may actually believe it.

He may be so "grateful" for the sacrifices and "hard work" that were made by both him and his parents that he could become a doctor and make enough money to be in the 1% that he could "afford" be in so much denial about how lucky he was that he won the lottery when it came to an opportunity to be able to make it to his full potential.
He can "afford" to ignore the institutional racism around him and his children. Especially if it would turn off his "peers" for him to point out that there is racism and class-ism. He won't get invited to all those parties with the all the rich folks and power brokers he thinks are his friends. So what if he has to put up with a few "jokes" and people not paying more attention to him than they do stupider but wealthier white folks...
And he's so lucky his money can buy him respect and punish anyone below him who doesn't know him and blatantly "disrespects" him. He can get a policeman or any other service provider fired if they don't know him when they deal with him.

At a certain level, money can buy acceptance and you don't have to use your brain, you can let the money handle life's little inconveniences. And Dr. Carson has apparently reached that level.

It's easy for him to believe that all it took was "hard work and making the right choices" - something "anyone in America could do". From experience working with a few black Republicans, I'd bet money that he'd to tell you that "Being black only made it just a bit more difficult, but that could easily be overcome by working and concentrating on a goal to be successful, and not being dependent on handouts handouts or being willfully ignorant or lazy." This from people who got a hand-up (or out) through going into the military for training and networking, or getting scholarships geared for minority applicants to go to universities that were just becoming desegregated back in the 1960's and 70's. People who got jobs and positions because for the first time, you couldn't refuse to take an application just because the qualified applicant was black or some other minority.

I think he has convinced himself that while he is "special" due to his choice and talents to be a neurosurgeon, it's not that hard to succeed as a black man in this society. Just stop asking for handouts, put your shoulder to the grindstone, and keep your nose clean, just like the white folks that are successful do.


Haele

[Orsino]

12. We will never know until repeating lies stops paying so well. n/t

[Johonny]

8. You raise them with no respect for authority-LOL

I wonder why they don't respect authority? Could it be that the authority is shooting them while they are unarmed, arresting them, questioning them at a vastly higher rate than the overall community? Nah... How about the authorities respecting the rest of us first for a change, Ben.

[erpowers]

10. Raids At Ivy League Schools

If the reason for black youth having confrontations with cops was their lack of respect for authority, lack of personal responsibility, and easy access to drugs and alcohol then there should be raids everyday at Ivy League schools. In addition, I read that in Ferguson blacks were stopped and searched for drugs far more than whites even though whites were more likely to have drugs on them. On a national level blacks are sent to prison for drugs charges far more than whites even though whites use drugs at just about the same rate as blacks. If the Ferguson case has nothing to do with race why do we not hear about daily raids at Ivy League school? Why do blacks get stopped and searched more than whites when whites are more likely to be carrying drugs? Why are blacks sent to prison more than whites even though whites use drugs at about the same rate as blacks

[Dirty Socialist]

11. What The Fox Host Should Do

The Fux host should pat Carson on the head and put a treat in his mouth, a la Benny Hill.

[951-Riverside]

13. Notice he avoids talking about the real issue here...

Police thugs who kill and seriously injure people from Kelly Thomas to Michael Brown with impunity.

[bigtree]

14. Carson sends a great deal of time and effort

. . . contending that race is irrelevant to anything. It has the contrarily ironic effect of making him irrelevant.

[Enrique]

15. that sounds like a good debate

did Fox really have Jesse Jackson vs. Ben Carson on this? I'll have to look that up.

Of course it sounds from this article that Carson just took the usual boring "black community" position, but I'd expect Jackson's answer to be a lot more interesting.