Baltimore bishop: Ben Carson ‘no longer the hero he once was’

A Baltimore bishop said Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson “is no longer the hero he once was” because of his role in President Trump’s administration.

Bishop Frank Reid, a former pastor at Bethel AME Church in Baltimore, told The Associated Press that the “Trump virus is weakening Ben Carson’s image.”

“This young African-American who grew up in poverty and could have been put in jail or suspended from school made something great of himself,” Reid said of Carson, who was born in Detroit but became a world-renowned surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital on Baltimore, where he also launched a scholarship program.

“It was the American Dream,” Reid said. “We believed he could walk on water.”

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The AP story reports that many in Baltimore can’t separate Carson from Trump, who has little support among African-Americans in Baltimore. It includes an anecdote about the removal of a portrait of Carson inside Archbishop Borders School in Baltimore.

“He was starting to become offensive,” Principal Alicia Freeman told the AP. 

Emmanuel Williams, 33, told the AP that he learned about Carson in elementary school. Williams said Carson “was taught during Black history month.”

“And everyone was so proud because it was happening here in Baltimore. It was mythic,” he reportedly said. “Sometimes I think the country looks down on us. So to have such a brilliant person who’s making history and making these great medical advancements in Baltimore? He was our crown jewel, and he was here.”

The AP said Carson declined to be interviewed for its story, but gave the following statement.

“I understand what it means to be poor because I grew up poor,” it said. “I was fortunate to have my mother who was my compass — always steering me on course, helping me to see beyond our circumstances. That’s what I hope to do for the millions of low-income families HUD serves.”