Ben Carson Urges Blacks to 'Reestablish Faith, Values' and Not Let Hip-Hop That 'Dismisses Jesus' to 'Destroy Things for Us'
Potential GOP 2016 presidential hopeful and conservative darling Ben Carson urged black Americans on the weekend to return to tested faith values that served their community well during America's dark era of slavery and Jim Crow and not allow hip-hop that "dismisses Jesus Christ" to "destroy things for us."
The retired neurosurgeon, who's also a devout Christian and staunch education advocate, explained in an interview on WBLS, an urban adult contemporary FM radio station in New York City, that modern culture has turned black Americans away from the faith culture once promoted by their forebears.
"We need to reestablish faith in our communities and the values and principles that got us through slavery, that got us through Jim Crow, and segregation, and all kinds of horrible things that were heaped upon us," said Carson, according to The Business Insider.
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"Why were we able to get through those? Because of our faith, because of our family, because of our values, and as we allow the hip-hop community to destroy those things for us, and as we grasp onto what's politically correct and not what is correct, we continue to deteriorate," he added.
When Carson raised that point, however, a caller to the station as well as the host of the show noted that hip-hop has also been used as a force for good in the black community.
"When you said 'hip-hop,' my antennae went up very quickly, because I said, 'Wait a minute that sounds like an old argument that they used to make about rock 'n' roll/R&B back in the 50s.' That's what they used to say," the host noted.
Carson then qualified his statement on hip-hop for the host and the caller, highlighting that he wasn't referring to all hip-hop.
"When I talk about the hip-hop community, I'm talking about the aspect of modern society that pretty much dismisses anything that has to do with Jesus Christ, that's what I'm talking about," said Carson, who also noted that he expects to make an announcement on whether or not he will be running for president in the first week of May.
