I think that Dr. Carson was going by the definition of the word immigrant as according to the dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/immigrant
The motivation for leaving home and traveling to a strange new place is not relevant to the definition. I would doubt that many of them had a lot of choice. The Irish were starving because of the potato famine. My grandfather left Sweden because his girl friend was pregnant and her father had a shotgun. They all have different stories, but the Africans are not the only ones who were forced in one way or another to come here. Personally, I’m just very, very glad they did.
In a way those survivors of that awful treatment were the physically and mentally strongest among them. Not that anyone should be made to go through it.
To dianne: It is a gross distortion of the historical facts to say that Africans forced onto slave ships and held as property were anything like any European immigrants. Let’s not try to whitewash the brutality of the slave trade and the continued inhuman conditions that African slaves were subjected to once they got here. As a start, I suggest watching the films Amistad and Twelve Days a Slave.
I think most Americans will agree that they are grateful their ancestors ended up here, by whatever means; although the slave trade was the worst by far. You don’t see too many returning to their original homelands.
Say What Now‽ Premium Member about 7 years ago
Ben Carson got a little confused in the operating room one time and removed most of his own brain.
TossedSaladCartoon about 7 years ago
I think that Dr. Carson was going by the definition of the word immigrant as according to the dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/immigrant
kaffekup about 7 years ago
I’m sure he knows American history as well as he knows Egyptian history…
Diane Lee Premium Member about 7 years ago
The motivation for leaving home and traveling to a strange new place is not relevant to the definition. I would doubt that many of them had a lot of choice. The Irish were starving because of the potato famine. My grandfather left Sweden because his girl friend was pregnant and her father had a shotgun. They all have different stories, but the Africans are not the only ones who were forced in one way or another to come here. Personally, I’m just very, very glad they did.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] about 7 years ago
In a way those survivors of that awful treatment were the physically and mentally strongest among them. Not that anyone should be made to go through it.
agrestic about 7 years ago
To dianne: It is a gross distortion of the historical facts to say that Africans forced onto slave ships and held as property were anything like any European immigrants. Let’s not try to whitewash the brutality of the slave trade and the continued inhuman conditions that African slaves were subjected to once they got here. As a start, I suggest watching the films Amistad and Twelve Days a Slave.
tracybsmith about 7 years ago
im·mi·grantˈiməɡrənt/nouna person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.
zippykatz about 7 years ago
I think most Americans will agree that they are grateful their ancestors ended up here, by whatever means; although the slave trade was the worst by far. You don’t see too many returning to their original homelands.