Ben Carson

As secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson has been traveling throughout the U.S. for a number of weeks on a listening tour for low-income citizens relying on the government for assistance. Only, to some, the tour was more of a photo-op than an integral conversation with a powerful government official.

“It was staged. It was so fast,” said 87-year-old Alzene Munnerlyn, according to the New York Times. Carson paid a visit to her apartment complex in Columbus, Ohio, on the second day of his tour. After she was priced out of her apartment, Munneryln now lives in senior housing, paid in part with a voucher.

“There needs to be a forum where you can just sit and talk with him, and he could ask you how you feel and then you could express yourself,” she said, frowning, according to the Times. Munnerlyn was upset and she felt as if she was used, as Carson and many other local housing officials took pictures in her living room.

“She had wanted to tell Mr. Carson that […]