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Ben Carson, a retired African-American neurosurgeon, is seeking the 2016 Republican nomination for President of the United States.

The New York Times reports that “Mr. Carson, who appeared on the political scene just two years ago and gained attention among conservatives for a speech highly critical of President Obama, planned a formal announcement of his candidacy on Monday in his native Detroit. He began his rise from poverty there to the heights of medicine — a path that shaped his rejection of liberal social policies in favor of self-reliance.”

During a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2013, he spoke against the country’s moral decay.

Carson has never held political office and hopes that his anti-establishment stances and lack of ties to party politics will win voters over.

He will be joining an already-full field of candidates who have announced their plans to run for the nomination. The current front-runners are Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Rand Paul and Senator Marco Rubio. Other big names include former Governor Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin, who was once a front-runner himself. In addition to those already running, more big names like Hewlett-Packard’s Carly Fionrina and former governor Mike Huckabee are rumored to soon be announcing their intentions as well.

Ben Carson lived and worked in Baltimore for 35 years. His main power play comes with his stance on antipoverty issues. He was quoted by The New York Times as saying, “personal responsibility, hard work and compassion for our fellow human beings [were the keys of climbing out of poverty].” He continued that “Mr. Obama, by contrast, seems to believe more in a utopian view of cradle-to-grave care.”

Many of his views come from personal experience. He graduated from Yale and the University of Michigan Medical School and at 33, “was named chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, becoming the youngest person, and first black doctor, to hold the title,” reported the Times. All of these accomplishments were achieved despite having grown up in a poor, single-parent household. Carson says that his mother was a cleaning woman with a 3rd grade education who worked hard and stayed off welfare.

Despite his many appealing qualities and fresh approaches, Carson will still have his work cut out for him, especially if he wants to win over Black liberal voters. He has offended numerous people in the past with his views on homos*xuality and linking gay marriage to pedophilia. While he’s put many of his past statements behind him, you can bet the other candidates will be eager to dig them back up.

Source: Your Black World