The United States Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Ben Carson, seems to be having the optimism that President Donald Trump will be giving a nationwide address that will be centered on race and unity.
Carson who told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, June 7, said: “I believe you’re going to be hearing from the President this week on this topic in some detail. And I would ask you maybe to reserve judgment until after that time.”
The country has been in a state of unrest for the past three weeks with several cities across the country experiencing peaceful protests and violent clashes with police. The demonstrations are meant to put pressure on lawmakers, thereby asking for both state and federal mandates that will change the way police and justice systems are enacted, as well as other equality and equity related reforms.
The President is yet to engage the country in an empathetic dialogue that would ease the tensions brought about after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.
Instead, Trump’s decision to use federal officers to push protestors out of Lafayette Park last week in order to get in a photo-op of himself while holding the Bible in front of St. John’s Church left little hope that he had any plans to address the nation on these issues at all.
Nevertheless, Carson believes that Donald Trump will find time this week to address Floyd’s killing, the daily protests in response to it, law enforcement’s reaction to the protests, and what the federal government will do in response.
It should be noted that every time Trump has spoken about the uprising, he has done nothing but stirring the hot pot to fuel the rage of the protestors. His inflammatory “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” tweet harkened back to a time when former Miami Police Chief Walter E. Headley first quoted it about the force used to patrol Black neighborhoods in the 1960s.
Then Trump use of the words, “thugs” when referring to protestors in Minneapolis, and not to mention the President’s own well-documented racially insensitive post could lead many to believe that whatever is to come will do more harm than good.
Moreover, aides in the White House are said to be counseling the President that this is the right time to speak up.
