Detroit school board members have voted 6-1 to remove Ben Carson‘s name from one of its schools because, according to one member, having Carson’s name on the building is akin to “having Trump’s name on our school in blackface.”
“Carson is doing Trump’s bidding, and he has adversely affected the African American community in Detroit as well as the nation with his housing policies,” Lamar Lemmons told The Washington Post
Detroit’s Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine was named after the neurosurgeon and current U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary long before his 2016 presidential run or current position. His work in neurosurgery propelled medicine and made Carson the crown jewel at a time when the Motor City was knee-deep in despair.
However, since Carson’s alignment with Donald Trump, Lemmons says he receives many letters from community members asking if removing his name is possible.
“Had he stayed in medicine, irrespective of his political philosophy or how he voted in private, we would have been happy to put his name on a school,” Lemmons said. “We looked at him as an honored son. He has since, in many of our eyes, disgraced himself.”
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