Herman Cain is lending his support to HUD Secretary Ben Carson in a letter titled “House Negroes stand up!”

Days after his letter stating that Confederate statues shouldn’t be taken down, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate posted the message on his website Wednesday in response to a Michigan Chronicle story that referred to Carson as a “house Negro” for defending the president’s comments on the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Cain said since the historically black newspaper called Carson a “house Negro,” he must be one as well because of his accomplishments. “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,” he wrote.

Cain said that he’s responding to the story because the former neurosurgeon, who called poverty a “state of mind” and referred to slaves as immigrants, is “too nice” to do so himself.

“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,” he continued.

He attributed this to his “multiple successful careers” and thanked Carson for his “sacrifice.”

“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,” he wrote. “Wow! There are too many to count, but there’s Dr. Ben Carson standing tall among millions, and doing something great again.”

Cain, like Carson, ran an unsuccessful Republican presidential campaign. During his 2012 bid, Cain faced a series of sexual assault, harassment and adultery allegations, which he denied. In December 2011, he suspended his campaign.