Dr. Ben Carson made an important point this week when asked about his impression of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.  Carson expressed his admiration for the movement suggested a new message for its proponents going forward: an emphasis on mutual respect and a renewed focus on most pervasive causes of death in the community:

Mutual respect is a tremendous thing. I think that will help a lot with the whole #BlackLives matter issue. But it needs to be done in a way the [sic] demonstrates a way that we also understand that there is tremendous carnage in our community. The #1 cause for death in the Black community is abortion. Let’s look at what’s behind that and let’s look at Black on Black crime and teach each other how to respect and love your fellow man. I just really want to dial back the hatred. There’s so many people who come in and they exacerbate the tension.

Carson also talked about his vision for the economy, noting that stagnant growth has been a major cause of our government spending problems over the last 15 years:

I want to focus on divisiveness because our strength of our nation comes from unity. And I want to focus on economy. We’ve had a very stagnant economy. From 1850 to 2000, our economy grew at a rate of 3.3% on average. From 2001 to 2014, a rate of 1.8% and if if [sic] you project that out over the years, in terms of unfunded liabilities it creates a crisis. Those are problems that can be solved.

The entire interview can be found here.

Nick Arnold is a researcher for American Principles In Action.