Time magazine columnist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar penned an op-ed Wednesday arguing that a Ben Carson presidency would be devastating for black Americans.

The former NBA star said that while the retired neurosurgeon is “a deeply moral man” whose success story is “the stuff [of] the American dream,” a Carson presidency would be bad for blacks because his “repressive, muddled and pious policies and opinions often run against our Constitution.”

“His presidency would be marked by even worse gridlock while he wastes his time trying to impose his narrow and sometimes ill-informed morality on the other 319 million people in the nation,” Mr. Abdul-Jabbar wrote. “And it would definitely not be good for African-Americans to have a president who flounders helplessly in office because it would perpetuate the stereotype that blacks can’t be effective CEOs, quarterbacks and leaders.”

He went on to argue that Mr. Carson’s religious and moral opinions on homosexuality and climate change run contrary to scientific evidence.

“Carson perpetuates the black stereotype of someone who’s too confused or frightened by all that complicated science so he or she ignores it, clinging to superstitions or religion,” he continued. “Obviously, white politicians have been making the same buffoonish claims, but they aren’t representative of a minority struggling to achieve equality.

“A Carson presidency would also be a direct attack on the health of African-Americans: he equated the Affordable Care Act to a form of slavery,” Mr. Abdul-Jabbar wrote. “Actually, poverty is the form of slavery that is most insidious in America, and it is perpetuated by institutional racism, which Ben Carson seems to deny exists. … If Carson refuses to acknowledge institutional racism, then it is unlikely he will do much to alleviate the problem.

“We are always striving to do better for our people by fulfilling the promise of a democratic Eden here and now. How we participate in that revolution determines who we really are. These are the times when all Americans need a champion willing to fight hard to fix the problems that affect people from all walks of life, not deny or ignore them. Ben Carson is not that champion,” he concluded.

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