Daily Kos writer Denise Oliver-Velez has two plans related to New York state’s primary election next April: vote for Democrats, and give Ben Carson the finger. Carson won’t see it, but that’s not the point -- it’s a therapeutic gesture.
In a Sunday screed, Oliver-Velez, an adjunct professor of anthropology and women’s studies at SUNY New Paltz, charged that Carson “has become the antithesis of the civil rights struggle, directly attacking the gains we have made and are fighting to hold onto…He is not the first black man or woman used by those whose foot is on our necks to co-sign their ideology and practices, and he won't be the last. Nor is he the first to profit from it.”
From Oliver-Velez’s piece (bolding added):
Historically, black Americans tend to be overlooked when it comes to achievements in science, math, and medicine. So it was with great pride that we embraced the acclaim garnered by Dr. Ben Carson…
Hence, many of us are beyond appalled that this man has morphed into an anti-science reactionary who touts creationism, intelligent design, and anti-evolutionism. What makes it even worse is that he is now the poster child for the right-wing tea party attacks against Barack Obama, the Democratic Party, and Democrats running for the 2016 nomination. He has become the antithesis of the civil rights struggle, directly attacking the gains we have made and are fighting to hold onto. He embodies a "great black hope" agenda for white tea partiers, and racists who are willing to forgo their racism as long as the black person they control is steeped in their brand of tea…
I can't say that I am surprised by this tactic. Look at the "replacement" of Thurgood Marshall, an iconic Supreme Court Justice and defender of civil rights, with Clarence Thomas…
…All they are proving is that they can field equal opportunity wingers: Black (Carson), Latino (Cruz and Rubio), and female (Carly Fiorina)…
…[Carson’s] future is assured in right-wing circles and on the speaker circuit, as well as on televised forums provided by Fox News. Since it would be incorrect to psychoanalyze Carson specifically, it makes more sense to put him and all the other black reactionaries of his ilk into a historical context and framework. He is not the first black man or woman used by those whose foot is on our necks to co-sign their ideology and practices, and he won't be the last. Nor is he the first to profit from it…
Our history, as a colonized people inside the United States cast perpetually as "the other," provides a constant tension and challenge for us as black Americans. We are all too aware of the fact that despite the fact that one of us ascended to the Oval Office, our struggle is far from over. In many ways Barack Obama's election has increased efforts to eliminate his ascendancy, unleashing unfiltered hate against us from right-wing quarters and upping the efforts to undo what has benefited us on his watch.
We, as black Democrats watch those efforts—including the touting of a man who bears our complexion, but not our interests—with a determination to ensure that he and his handlers fail in their efforts to turn the clock back on the incremental progress we have made.
Oh hell no, Ben Carson!
This black woman will be thinking of you as I cast my ballot for the Democrats on the ticket in the spring, middle finger held high and pointed in your direction.
