Trump mulls 'national listening tour' to engage with black community amid Floyd protests, says Ben Carson
With the countrywide protests in the US over the killing of George Floyd refusing to die down, President Donald Trump is thinking of doing something, which is not usual by the standards he follows. According to Housing Secretary Ben Carson, the only African-American member of Trump’s cabinet, the latter is considering taking a 'national listening tour' to reach out to the black community, which has felt terribly upset over the death of Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis cops last month during a violent arrest. Trump’s reaction to the violence that has seen loot and arson has been equally firm and his critics have accused him of allowing things to worsen instead of improving.
Carson, who is the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and was one of Trump’s rivals in the 2016 presidential election, told Fox’s ‘Bill Hammer Reports’ on Wednesday, June 3, that the president is planning to engage with the minority communities to hear their concerns. He also said till the recent protests, the Trump administration has been making the lives of African-Americans in the US better.
"Our nation is very strong. The underlying economic fundamentals are very strong. We’ll get back on the right track again. Things were working well for a lot of the minority communities: Lowest unemployment rate, poverty going down, opportunities flourishing, particularly in the Opportunity Zones. And we’ll get back to that,” Carson, a retired doctor, said.
Administration eyeing to start a 'national dialogue'
The veteran also told the channel that the administration was looking at “various possibilities” besides the listening tour to “start a national dialogue”. “[We want to] make sure that we can help to resolve the conflicts that obviously are no good for our nation going forward. The first place to start is not getting into respective corners and trying to castigate other people and always blaming other people for problems,” he added.
“Each of us can take a look in the mirror and say, ‘What can I do in my sphere of influence that can make a difference? Am I part of the solution or part of the problem?’ That makes a big difference,” he said.
Taking a dig at those who have carried out the violence, Carson said they have “totally forgotten” the successful work of “the most effective person in bringing about social change" -- Dr Martin Luther King Jr. “Why don’t we look back at things that work rather than trying to come up with something that has never worked: violent change in our country?" he asked.
Trump’s ‘meet fire with fire’ strategy to quell the violence that has spread throughout the US has drawn flak. From tweeting “when looting starts, shooting starts” to threatening to use military power to stop the violence, Trump has said it all and been accused of incitement.
Carson said he had spoken with Trump on ways to deal with the situation and they included, besides a listening tour for the communities to express their concerns, offering them an opportunity to join a task force. Criminal justice reform could be another step forward. Carson said each citizen is a valuable resource and hence there is a need to think about ways to develop and not control them. On Wednesday, Trump tweeted claiming he has done more for the black community than anybody else in US history.
The housing secretary also condemned the killing of Floyd and said he was shocked by the footage of his agonizing death. The White House declined to make remarks on Carson's proposals, the Washington Examiner reported.