Ben Carson talks #BlackLivesMatter, presidential goals, abortion with Roland Martin

ben-carson*Although Donald Trump continues to lead many polls in the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Dr. Ben Carson is making a noticeable impact among conservatives with growing support and a top ranking among a few lists.
During an appearance on “The Tom Joyner Morning Show” on Monday (Sept. 14), the neurosurgeon turned presidential contender touched on his goals as president as he revealed that he initially had no interest in getting into the race to become the next commander-in-chief.
“I had no intention for running for public office, I was going to retire and enjoy life,” Carson told Roland Martin while stating what ultimately swayed him to run for office. “But there were so many clamoring for me to do it. I finally just said ‘Lord, I didn’t plan on doing this but if you really want me to do it your going to have to open the doors because all the pundits says its impossible. And He opened the doors and we were able to put together a great organization. I’ve been able to get out there and really talk to people. I think that’s what’s made the difference. When they can actually hear your explanations as opposed to the little sound bites…it makes a difference.”
Now that he’s thrown his hat into the race, Carson is making his views known should he win the GOP nomination and ultimately becomes president. Topping Carson’s list of concerns are the divisiveness of the country, in addition to current state of the economy.
“I want to focus on divisiveness because our strength of our nation comes from unity. And I want to focus on economy. We’ve had a very stagnant economy,” Carson said. “From 1850 to 2000, our economy grew at a rate of 3.3% on average. From 2001 to 2014, a rate of 1.8% and if you project that out over the years, in terms of unfunded liabilities it creates a crisis. Those are problems that can be solved. ”
Carson’s interview on the TJMS comes as he gears up to face Trump and other Republican hopefuls in the second GOP debate, which takes place Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Despite his increasing block of supporters, Carson’s standing in the black community has been shaky as perceptions paint him as a Black man who doesn’t harbor much interest in his own community.
BlackAmericaWeb.com notes that Carson isn’t friendly on such things as welfare, affirmative action and federal funding. What’s ironic is the fact that  his medical career would not have been possible without affirmative action and federal spending. Carson’s opposition to those resources is such that he doesn’t want others to benefit from welfare nor take advantage of affirmative action and federal spending. While the irony of his views were pointed out, Carson stated that he doesn’t see it as such.
As talk turned to the #BlackLivesMatter movement and his stance on police brutality, Carson mentioned that he took a trip to Ferguson, Missouri to meet with members of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, a visit that he admits to being moved by.
“I was very impressed with my visit to Ferguson,” Carson shared with Martin. “The thing that I came away from there thinking is respect. If we can only learn to respect each other. I was very amazed that several people said that with Michael Brown, they recognized that he wasn’t an upstanding citizen, but they were upset that his body lay in the street. That was very problematic and showed tremendous disrespect. There’s no question that we’ve got to teach the police to respect the community and teach the community to respect the police.
“Mutual respect is a tremendous thing. I think that will help a lot with the whole #BlackLivesMatter issue. But it needs to be done in a way the demonstrates a way that we also understand that there is tremendous carnage in our community,” he continued while pointing out another concern he feels should be examined. “The #1 cause for death in the Black community is abortion. Let’s look at what’s behind that and let’s look at Black on Black crime and teach each other how to respect and love your fellow man. I just really want to dial back the hatred. There’s so many people who want to exacerbate the tension.”
His ironic views may not register fully with him, but the bigger picture was what Carson emphasized with Martin as he encouraged blacks to embrace the Republican Party because of their history of achievement and contributions to society.
“There’s over 2 trillion dollars of American money overseas. The reason that it’s still over there is because we have the highest  corporate tax rates in the developed world,” Carson pointed out while touting his plan for dealing with the issue. “I’ve spent many an afternoon talking about what we’re going to do with all this money. I proposed a six-month hiatus on corporate taxes to allow it to be repatriated. Ten percent of it has to be used to create jobs for people who are unemployed or on welfare. That’s the kind of thing that wouldn’t cost the American people one penny and would be the biggest stimulus since FDR’s program. I don’t think anybody’s going to object to that. It makes perfectly good sense.”
To HEAR Carson’s entire interview with Marin, click HERE.

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