Samuel L. Jackson Rips Ben Carson Over ‘Slaves Are Immigrants’ Comments

Desire Thompson
Updated
"There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less," Carson said on Monday (March 6).

By Desire Thompson

Ben Carson’s welcoming speech as the new head of Housing and Urban Development was received with criticism and many thinking emojis Monday (March 6) after he referred to slaves as immigrants.

“That’s what America is about, a land of dreams and opportunity,” Carson said to the HUD staff. “There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less. But they too had a dream that one day their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, great-grandsons, great-granddaughters, might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land.”

Ben Carson just referred to *slaves* as “immigrants”

“There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships…” pic.twitter.com/WkFrm3dYCB

— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) March 6, 2017

 

Death and Taxes adds Carson’s speech focused primarily on a “can do” mission and weak brain-metaphors. “[E]very human being, regardless of their ethnicities, or their background, they have a brain, the human brain,” he said. “You can’t overload it. Have you ever heard people say, ‘Don’t do that or you’ll overload your brain’? You can’t overload the human brain. … So we need to concentrate a little less on what we can’t do and a little more on what we can do.”

But the public, including acting legend Samuel L. Jackson, couldn’t get past his slaves/immigrants comment.

 

Of course, the hashtag #d**kheadedtom refers to the racial epithet “Uncle Tom.” With Jackson’s Django character Stephen embodying one, this insult had to sting just a bit.

Take a look at more reactions below.

This post Samuel L. Jackson Rips Ben Carson Over ‘Slaves Are Immigrants’ Comments first appeared on Vibe.