When Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon turned conservative pundit, compared the United States to Nazi Germany last month, he was quickly criticized in mainstream and liberal media outlets, including by the
Daily Beast's Joshua DuBois, who wrote that Carson was no longer a role model for black children because he "sold out to the right."
Carson gets plenty of attacks like that whenever he speaks out against liberal causes, but he rarely gets public support from groups like the NAACP.
Roland Martin, host of "NewsOne Now" on TV One, thinks that should change.
"The issue I've always had is, if you're going to criticize someone, you criticize them based upon policy, based upon issues versus their character [and] things under those lines," Martin told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"I do believe when you have people who are being attacked personally for their views, it is the job of responsible parties to step up and say those critiques are absolutely unnecessary," he said Monday.
Urgent: Who Should Be 2016 GOP Presidential Nominee?
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Martin compared the criticism Carson gets to the attack on Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, in February by North Carolina NAACP President
William Barber, who likened Scott to a ventriloquist's dummy for the tea party, and the frequent criticism of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"I think it’s interesting that Condoleezza Rice's dad was vehement in allowing Stokely Carmichael to speak at the University of Alabama, and in fact [Carmichael] maintained a long, friendly relationship with Condoleezza when they often debated socialism and other issues. That's a reality of who she is.
"So, I think it's ridiculous when people attack her and say, 'She's not black, she's an Uncle Tom.' You criticize based on policy, don't focus on personal," Martin said.
That doesn't mean Martin agrees with Carson, including his view that blacks have been let down by the progressive policies of the last 50 years.
"I think his view there is a very simplistic one," Martin said. "It's a lot more nuanced, a lot more complex, and that's where I would disagree with him, because at the end of the day it goes to the issue of, again, when you talk about unemployment, when you talk about education, when you talk about those things in terms of opportunities. It's not just solely a question of progressive politics."
Urgent: Who Should Be 2016 GOP Presidential Nominee?
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