via the Associated Press
A week after dropping out of the 2016 presidential race, Dr. Ben Carson has announced that he is endorsing real-estate magnate Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
During a Friday morning press conference in Miami, Carson revealed that Trump is his choice for president.
“Donald Trump talks a lot about making America great, but it’s not just talk,” said Carson.
While running, Carson and Trump avoided each other for the most part — by not taking swipes at each other on Twitter or in public. But “The Donald” still made controversial statements about Carson’s past history of violence:
“If you think about what Carson’s saying, he hit his mother over the head with a hammer. He hit a friend in the face with a lock. He tried to kill somebody with a knife, and he said he suffers from pathological disease, okay? When you suffer from pathological disease, you’re not really getting better unless you start taking lots of pills and things.”
The two seldom attacked one another in debates, but their relationship isn’t entirely honky-dory. However, Trump went full-force in attacking senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and former Florida governor Jeb Bush.
“He’s actually a very intelligent person,” Carson said in the press conference, noting that the Trump the public sees is not always the person he is underneath.
But this endorsement may have a sinister purpose: Trump is gearing up for the general election, and he wants the Black vote.
Before Carson’s endorsement, there have been high-profile endorsements from other Black figures. Last week, Charles Evers, the brother of Medgar Evers, endorsed Trump and simultaneously dispelled rumors of Trump’s connections to white supremacists.
“I believe in him first of all because he’s a businessman. I think jobs are badly needed in Mississippi,” Evers said. “All of us have some racism in us. Even me.”
Civil rights activist Medgar Evers was assassinated by Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the White Citizens’ Council — a group formed in 1954 to resist integration of schools and civil rights activity.
Viral videos of Black protesters being beaten, punched and manhandled at Trump rallies goes against everything Medgar Evers stood for.
Carson’s endorsement is a Band-Aid for this rampant violence.
“We move on, because it’s not about me, it’s not about Mr. Trump, it’s about America,” Carson said. “There is a lot more alignment philosophically and spiritually than I ever thought there was.”
In the 1990s, Carson left a lasting impact on the Black community — with his success story of coming from a poor community and becoming a successful neurosurgeon — and his memoir Gifted Hands.
Carson’s campaign was based on the idea that Black people can be anything they want — without relying on the government. It was the Black conservative Bible fighting against “Black victimhood.” It failed, and Trump wants to clearly capitalize off of it.
