Carson has long history of referring to slaves as immigrants

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, under fire for referring to American slaves as "immigrants," insisted his remarks were misinterpreted, calling the two experiences “entirely different.”

But his words to HUD employees on Monday were nearly identical to those he has used over the past two decades.


In his 2000 book, “The Big Picture,” Carson quoted a 1997 speech he gave at a United Way conference in Alabama, in which he said immigrants came to America “not for themselves, but so that their sons and daughters, their grandsons and granddaughters, might have an opportunity for success in this land.”

“Hundreds of years before that, other immigrants came here in the bottom of slave ships,” he quoted himself as saying. “They worked even harder for longer hours for even less. They too had a dream. That one day their great-grandchildren could pursue the dream of freedom and happiness in this land.”

In his 2012 book “America the Beautiful,” he made the same point: “Long before the Statue of Liberty landed in America, however, other immigrants came here in the bottom of slave ships who worked even harder for no wages, but they too had a dream that one day their great-grandsons and great-granddaughters might pursue freedom and prosperity in this land.”

Those comments track with his speech to HUD employees, his first since being confirmed last week. Carson referred to “other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less,” but dreamed of a better life for their children and grandchildren.

In a Facebook post Monday night, he sought to clarify his remarks, saying the slave and immigrant experiences could not be equated.

“Slaves were ripped from their families and their homes and forced against their will after being sold into slavery by slave traders,” he wrote. “The immigrants made the choice to come to America. They saw this country as a land of opportunity. In contrast, slaves were forced here against their will and lost all their opportunities. We continue to live with that legacy.”

On the "Armstrong Williams Show," however, Carson stuck by his use of the word “immigrant.”

“You can be an involuntary immigrant,” he said Monday on the radio program, responding to an African-American caller who said her son was concerned about Carson “dumbing down our struggle.”

“We should be proud to have ancestors that had the mental strength to endure what so many others had not been able to endure,” Carson said. “They tried to enslave all kinds of people but they were not able to survive it. And that requires a tremendous amount of toughness and willpower and strength and hope and faith, and they had that.”

Carson did not elaborate on which other people weren't able to survive slavery. America’s history with slavery is complex, including the chattel trade of Native Americans.

The HUD secretary said his employees understood his real meaning in his address to them. “Everybody in that auditorium was with me,” he said on the radio show. “It’s only those people who are always trying to stir up controversy. … It’s really kind of sad what the media has degenerated into.”

Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.

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