Dr. Carson has been in the news lately and has taken quite a bit of flack for his strongly conservative views. Several years ago I attended a Martin Luther King Day dinner held here in Hollywood Florida. I attended as a representative of the City of Hollywood, my employer. Dr. Carson was the speaker.
The audience was mostly black and they cheered wildly at Dr. Carson's anecdotes about his struggles growing up poor as the child of a single mother, his quest to attend college and medical school and his efforts to provide medical care to the poor all over the world. Especially moving was Dr. Carson's story of how he made medical history by being the first surgeon to successfully separate twins that were conjoined at the back of their heads.
The audience cheered the loudest when Dr. Carson voiced his opinion that he believes in affirmative action. And they were still cheering when he went on to say he believes in affirmative action for all races, i.e. if there is a poor but promising white child struggling in Appalachia or wherever, they should have the same shot at the benefits of affirmative action as black children. It took a few seconds for what he had said to sink in but the nods and smiles and happy looks and encouraging sounds toned down significantly.
As for me, I knew I was listening to someone I would be hearing from again...
No comments:
Post a Comment