Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Ben Carson criticized Black Lives Matter as a “Marxist-driven organization” during a Wednesday night appearance on “The Story with Martha MacCallum.”
Carson’s appearance came as President Donald Trump drew heavy criticism for characterizing a painted Black Lives Matter mural in New York City as “a symbol of hate.”
Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum asked the former brain surgeon whether he felt like there was a “danger” to the “Marxist ideology” of the group’s foundation beginning to extend to the broader social justice movement.
“Well, we are really talking about two different things,” Carson responded. “Do black lives matter? I think everybody would agree that they do. But we are talking about something else when we are talking about a movement that espouses things like taking down the model of Western family structure, talking about defunding the police, and the host of things on their website, the Marxist influence. These are things that are antithetical to the American model and to patriotism in this country.”
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Carson characterized as “noble and laudable” the notion that discrimination should be eliminated, but criticized Black Lives Matter as a group “that is taking advantage of the fact that people don’t really know what’s behind a Marxist driven organization.”
Responding to MacCallum’s question about Trump’s “symbol of hate” statement,” Carson wondered what the reaction would be if another symbol were painted on the street.
“I guess the larger question is, when you’re in a public forum, a public square, do you have the right to put on there a political statement?” he asked. “I wonder what people would say if somebody painted a Confederate flag on a public street?” (RELATED: Kayleigh McEnany Tangles With ABC Reporter Jon Karl About Trump Calling BLM Mural A ‘Symbol Of Hate’)
“On private property, absolutely do whatever you want,” he concluded. “This is a free country. But we have to recognize that when we put political symbols on public property we have to take responsibility for that.”