Ben Carson’s Name Removed from Detroit Public High School
30 December 2022 |
Ben Carson’s name has been removed from a Detroit public high school, previously named the Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine. According to ABC13 News, the name change came after 80% of 1,500 people surveyed said they supported the change, including alumni, students, parents, staff, and community members.
The push to change the name came as Carson courted controversy during his tenure as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 – 2021, under the Trump administration.
A school board member who opposed the original naming of the school after Carson in 2018 said that the change was “synonymous with having Trump’s name on our school in blackface,” according to Fox News.
“This recommendation was a difficult one, probably one of the most difficult ones I’ve been involved in,” said Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, according to Bridge Michigan. “On the one hand, I believe in history. I believe history should always be recognized, and that there’s an opportunity to make up for the mistakes of the past.”
According to ABC13 News, Carson’s team confirms they don’t have plans to challenge the name change. Carson released a statement saying that while the move saddens him he wants the focus to be on the students. “Cancel culture is alive and well. It’s infiltrating. Political correctness, wokeness, cancel culture, this is going to destroy us as a nation if we don’t get a grip on it,” said Carson.
Appearing on Hannity’s show on Fox News, Carson commented, “We’re seeing this wokeness spreading throughout our community to the destruction of our community. How does it do any good for us to demonize people with whom we disagree and to teach that to our children at a time when the math scores are down, the reading scores are down; academic performance is down?”
The school board voted to instead name the school the Crockett Midtown High School of Science and Medicine, recognizing Dr. Ethelene Crockett, the first African American woman in Michigan to become board certified in obstetrics and gynecology.
