President Donald Trump's move to end diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts is justified, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson told Newsmax Wednesday, arguing the country rose to global prominence by honoring excellence rather than focusing on identity.
"It's wonderful to have an administration who recognizes that two wrongs don't make a right and also recognizes that we were already making tremendous progress in terms of diversity before [President Barack] Obama came on the scene and identity politics became so important," Carson said on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
"You know, one of the reasons that the United States accelerated from a bunch of ragtag militiamen to the pinnacle of the world so rapidly is because we honored excellence."
Carson said the U.S. has historically spurred innovation and progress by focusing on the best talent rather than on "checking boxes."
"We weren’t looking to check boxes,” he said. “We were looking for people who were excellent at what they did, and we encouraged them, and we gave them what they needed.
"And that's what we need to do again if we really want to return America to greatness."
He recalled an opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal, "Compassionate Action," in which he supported the idea of helping people in need, regardless of their race.
"Of course, we always want to give a hand up to those who are downtrodden," Carson said.
"We look out for the underdog, and the underdog can be any color. They can come from any ethnicity. That is a fair program."
Carson warned that tying benefits strictly to race, gender, or other markers fosters division.
"When you have to check a box about your gender or about your race and we make it about that, we totally distort the goodwill of the American people. And I think it's actually creating more conflict in our society than helping."
When asked why he mentioned Obama, Carson responded: "He was the one who really started pushing the whole idea of identity politics. Everything had to have a racial tilt to it. ...
"We have Black admirals and generals, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and heads of foundations and university presidents. We've had a Black president of the United States.
"To sit here and tell me that we haven’t made tremendous progress is ridiculous," he said.
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