- Dr.
Ben Carson , the former neurosurgeon who leads the department of Housing and Urban Development, said Sunday that he grew up during "real systemic racism" when asked whether systemic racism was a current issue in US policing. - Carson, the only black member of President Trump's cabinet, told Tapper he experienced racism as an eighth-grade student, but called similar acts of racism "uncommon" today.
- Carson called for "mutual solutions," suggesting "rogue" police officers could be taken off the streets and seemed to call for an increase in body cameras, though he called most police officers are "wonderful" people.
Ben Carson, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Trump's only African American cabinet member, said Sunday he grew up during "real systemic racism" when asked he believed there was systemic racism present in US police forces.
"Let's say this," Carson told CNN's Jake Tapper during "State of the Union" on Saturday. "I grew up in a time when there was real systemic racism. I remember as an eighth-grade student I was the only black student and I got the highest academic achievement and the teacher got up and berated the other students. They weren't trying hard enough because a black kid was number one."
Carson said that type of racism was common when he was a child, though he said those types of racist interactions are now "uncommon."
Carson's comments come as nationwide protests over the police killing of 46-year-old George Floyd, who is black, in Minneapolis continue after a white police officer was recorded using a neck restraint on him for more than eight minutes even after Floyd said he couldn't breathe and after he lost consciousness.
"Are there still racists around?" he added. "Absolutely. There were yesterday, there are today, and there will be tomorrow. That doesn't mean we shouldn't fight it, and this is an opportune time right now. People are concentrating on this. We can't let this moment slip away."
—Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) June 7, 2020
Carson said he believed that the majority of police officers were "wonderful" people and he seemed to attribute any issues of racism on the police force to what he called "rogue" police officers.
Activists who have organized against police brutality faced by African Americans have called for bigger changes that include defunding and disbanding police forces.
"They can go from one jurisdiction to another jurisdiction and nobody does anything about it," Carson said, suggesting the wider adoption of police-worn body cameras and some sort of system to prevent these "rogue" officers from being employed as police officers in other areas of the country.
He added: "There are things that can be done, but we need to come to mutual solutions about this and now is the time to do it."
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