The news stories coming from the political world have been straight bizarre as of late. Sometimes the news is portrayed like a weekly episodic drama show. Other times, it’s something straight out The Boondocks. This story that just came out this week is something that’ll make you question if you’re reading a satire article. Seriously! So disclaimer: this is a real article about a real letter that 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate Herman Cain wrote in defense of current HUD Secretary Ben Carson. No fake news this way!
Cain penned a letter on his website entitled “House Negroes Stand Up” Wednesday after newspaper the Michigan Chronicle posted a story that referred to Carson as a “House Negro” for defending the President’s remarks on Charlottesville. Keith A. Owens, Michigan Chronicle Senior Editor and author of the article, said. “Being appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and being a House Negro are two different things. It now appears HUD Secretary Ben Carson is imminently qualified to be a House Negro, but remains as unqualified as ever to lead HUD.”
Carson said in response to the backlash to Trump’s remarks, “When he talks about the fact that hatred and bigotry and these things are unacceptable, he’s talking about everybody. … You’d think he was saying that hatred and bigotry are unacceptable except by neo-Nazis. We really have got to begin to think more logically and stop trying to stir up controversy and start concentrating on the issues that threaten us and threaten our children. We the people have got to be smarter than this …We all have to recognize that there are other things that are important here and don’t get caught up in these little squabbles and blow them out of proportion and spend all of our time talking about that.”
Herman Cain, former chairman and chief executive officer of Godfather’s Pizza, listens during a Bloomberg Television interview inside the Bloomberg Link during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, U.S., on Wednesday Aug. 29, 2012. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
In response to the article, Hermain Cain posted his letter “House Negroes Stand Up!” Here’s the letter in its entirety!
They say it to me too, Dr. Ben Carson, because just like you, I refuse to embrace the backward thinking of today’s black identity politics. Since the Michigan Chronicle, a historically black Detroit-based newspaper, thinks Dr. Ben Carson is a “house Negro”, then I must be one also. Because that’s one of the names you get called by other black people when you are a success at something, and you do not buy into “black group think”, or act and say what they want you to say.
Maybe the Michigan Chronicle has not noticed that there are a lot of successful black people in prominent positions in America, because some of us have chosen to focus on performance and productive opportunities, rather than on the past. This is especially true of the current waste of time and distractions about statues, and who owned slaves 200 years ago.
Gentle Dr. Ben Carson is too nice to respond to that garbage article and name-calling by the Michigan Chronicle, but I’m not! Let’s start with the fact that he prayed hard about even accepting the HUD job. Personally, I was glad he accepted it, because he will bring “outside the box” ideas and thinking to HUD. Many of the old ways of doing things have left many of our urban areas unchanged for 50 years, and too many of our young people have been trapped in cycles of poverty, crime and weak educations.
Secondly, Dr. Carson didn’t become a world-renowned brain surgeon by being a “house Negro”. He achieved this distinction because of his intellect and the results he produced in his profession. Dr. Carson had plenty of other better paying and less stressful opportunities to choose from before he accepted the HUD position, but he chose to serve his country and a president who is truly trying to create a better America.
The Michigan Chronicle thanks Dr. Carson for his sacrifice and dedication by calling him a nasty insulting name. It’s the usual attempt to try to discredit his patriotism and to discourage him. Knowing Dr. Carson, that old tactic ain’t going to work. The good news is that millions of black people are not drinking the name-calling brand of Kool-Aid. We are thinking for ourselves, telling people the truth, serving our country and pursuing the greatness of America and the richness of our futures.
Being called a “house Negro” is just one of the insulting names I have been called as an ABC (American Black Conservative), simply because I do not subscribe to the black liberal backward-looking narrative of black identity politics. Maybe that’s why I have had multiple successful careers over the last 50 years, and name-calling has not stopped or slowed me down yet!
If being called a “house Negro” is what some of us must endure for succeeding in this nation and thinking for ourselves, then let all of the “house Negroes” stand up and be counted. Wow! There are too many to count, but there’s Dr. Ben Carson standing tall among millions, and doing something great again.
Thank you, Dr. Ben Carson, for being an achiever and a patriot.
Yup, this is a real thing! Sources below if you don’t believe it. Even as I’m writing this article, I’m having a hard time believing this myself. We’re living in interesting times..
Sources
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