Ben Carson: ‘Be neighborly’ to fight racism

Housing Secretary Ben Carson says Americans should “learn to be neighborly” to fight “racism and political strife,” following the violence in Charlottesville, Va.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Carson said that his neighbors had banded together to shame a member of their community who hung a Confederate flag after the Carsons moved into a home in rural Maryland. The other neighbors hung up American flags.

He also said that his home in Virginia had been vandalized with anti-Trump rhetoric, which was cleaned by “kind” and “embarrassed” neighbors when he was out of town.

“In both instances, less than kind behavior was met by people taking the high road. We could all learn from these examples. Hatred and bigotry unfortunately still exists in our country and we must all continue to fight it, but let’s use the right tools.”

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Carson said being “neighborly” could bring positive changes.

“By the way, that neighbor who put up the Confederate flag subsequently became friendly,” Carson wrote.

“That is the likely outcome if we just learn to be neighborly and to get to know each other.”

Carson’s post was in response to violence Saturday caused by white nationalists in Charlottesville. A man with ties to white nationalist groups allegedly rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one person and wounding 19 others.