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Home · News

Say What?! Ben Carson Refers To Slaves As ‘Immigrants’

The new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development has left many perplexed by his latest blunder.
Say What?! Ben Carson Refers To Slaves As ‘Immigrants’
Getty Images
By Paula Rogo · Updated October 26, 2020
Another week, another Trump administration gaffe. The culprit this time is newly-minted Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson who strangely referred to slaves as “immigrants” while speaking Monday to his department employees.   “That’s what America is about, a land of dreams and opportunity,” Carson said. “There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less. But they too had a dream that one day their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, great-grandsons, great-granddaughters, might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land.” What?! [brightcove:5239116055001 default] Carson’s comments came just as the Trump administration was rolling out its second attempt at a travel ban — a move that was expected to dominate the news cycle. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest in hair, beauty, style and celebrity news. But the former brain surgeon made sure to steal some of the spotlight. Many on Twitter were confused by his comment, including actor Samuel L. Jackson

OK!! Ben Carson....I can't! Immigrants ? In the bottom of SLAVE SHIPS??!! MUTHAFUKKA PLEASE!!!#dickheadedtom

— Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) March 6, 2017

Immigrants??? https://t.co/f0RH7iXBrn

— NAACP (@NAACP) March 6, 2017

Ben Carson: a brain surgeon who appears to be brain dead.

— Tre (@Treg2Cole) March 6, 2017
Carson has a history of making mind-boggling statements, like the time he compared Obamacare to slavery in 2013. “You know, Obamacare is really, I think, the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery,” he said at a Values Voter Summit in 2013.”And…it is slavery in a way because it is making all of us subservient to the government, and it was never about healthcare. It was about control.”
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