Ben Carson slammed the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sunday for his recent characterization of the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, as a racially-based “state execution.”
The two men discussed Mr. Jackson’s statement during a segment on “Fox News Sunday,” with Mr. Carson contending that it went too far.
“If you take race out of the issue altogether and you take a group of young men and you raise them with no respect for authority, not learning to take on personal responsibility, having easy access to drugs and alcohol, they’re very likely to end up as victims of violence and incarceration,” he said. “Has nothing to do with race.
“So, yes, is there racism? Are there problems? Yes. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But we need to start looking at bigger issues here,” Mr. Carson said.
Mr. Jackson argued that the nation has a “culture of racial harassment of black people.”
“Whether it was the killing of Trayvon Martin, the killer walked away free, the killing of [Amadou] Diallo in New York, shot 41 times by police, they walked away free,” Mr. Jackson said. “The Oscar Grant case in Oakland, or the case of Rodney King in L.A. At some point, we require and need to have a sense of justice. All we do know about Mike Brown is, really, he was shot unarmed six times.”
Mr. Carson shot back that the grace of God helped him overcome his anger issues — and that Mr. Jackson should follow suit.
“You know, as a youngster, you know, I had anger problems, also,” he told Fox News. “But for the grace of God, I wouldn’t be talking to you today. I tried to stab another youngster with a knife. A belt buckle saved him. You know, anger issues get in the way.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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