There was a time when Ben Carson was highly revered. His contribution to medicine as a neurosurgeon cannot be denied. But ever since Carson found himself working with President Donald Trump (and opening his mouth about politics in general), that admiration has largely fallen by the wayside.
Subsequently, the Detroit school board voted last week to rename the Benjamin Carson High School of Science And Medicine, according to the Detroit News.
To be fair, the high school isn’t the only building that is being slated for a possible rename. Earlier this year the panel approved a new policy to commemorate, name and rename school buildings and facilities, according to the news site, giving the board the option to change a school’s name to honor “individuals who have made a significant contribution to the enhancement of education.”
The Detroit News writes:
The board also can select another name under circumstances that include when a building is newly built or redesigned, where the name no longer reflects the current student population or “the community of the geographic area where the school is located requests a name change that more closely aligns with the history of the locality, or information newly discovered about the current name of the school is negative in nature.”
Among those who want Carson’s name removed from the high school, however, is LaMar Lemmons, a board member, who claimed that residents “don’t support the [Trump] administration.”
Last week, Lemmons told the Washington Post, that having Carson’s name on the school was “synonymous with having Trump’s name on our school in blackface.”
Carson, he contended, “is doing Trump’s bidding, and he has adversely affected the African American community in Detroit as well as the nation with his housing policies.”
“And he’s allied himself with a president that says he is a white nationalist and sends dog whistles that even the deaf can hear,” Lemmons added.
The board voted 6-1 to change the name, but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen. The district is expected to have community meetings and issue surveys for each site to figure out if there is indeed any interest in renaming any facilities, and also to figure out possible new names. The results will be reported by the superintendent, who will make a final recommendation to the board.
So Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine will still be, for now, at least until next school year.
