Ben Carson addresses anger over George Floyd's death
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson weighs in on unrest across the country.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson told "Bill Hemmer Reports" Wednesday that President Trump is weighing embarking on a "national listening tour" to engage with and hear the concerns of minority communities.
Carson, who is black, emphasized that up until the recent protests and rioting, the Trump administration had been successfully making life better for African-Americans in the U.S.
"Our nation is very strong. The underlying economic fundamentals are very strong. We’ll get back on the right track again," he said. "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 told Hemmer the administration is looking at "various possibilities" in addition to the listening tour as a way 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," he said. "The first place to start is not getting into respective corners and trying to castigate other people and always blaming other people for problems.
"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," Carson added.
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"Every solution does not necessarily come from the federal government. It’s all of us involved, and the federal government is there to facilitate life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness... We need to move toward more self-responsibility."
Carson went on to say that the rioters and looters who say they are fighting for change in the African-American community 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?"