DeVos Tries To Walk Back Statement About Black Colleges, School Choice

Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday tried to walk back her suggestion that historically black colleges were the product of a “school choice” movement rather than legalized segregation and Jim Crow laws.

“Your history was born not out of mere choice, but out of necessity, in the face of racism, and in the aftermath of the Civil War,” DeVos tweeted. “HBCUs remain at the forefront of opening doors that had previously been closed to so many.”

On Monday night, DeVos released a statement calling historically black colleges “real pioneers when it comes to school choice.”

“They started from the fact that there were too many students in America who did not have equal access to education,” she said. “Their success has shown that more options help students flourish.”

Many historically black colleges were founded because black students were legally barred from attending segregated white schools, rather than from any organized push to provide “more options” for black students during an era of Jim Crow laws and legalized segregation.

DeVos’ statement drew sharp criticism from several Democratic senators.

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  1. Yep, nothing says “school choice” like “you can’t go to this school, so make your own.”

    Also too…please enjoy this off-topic schadenfreude moment with me…

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/02/28/man-woman-sentenced-for-terrorizing-partygoers-with-confederate-flag.html

    20 years and 15 years under a law that was, arguably, enacted to target minorities!!! Oooooh, those tears…so sweet and tasty…nom nom nom nom nom nommity nom.

    However, I must say…

    “If you drive around town with a Confederate flag, yelling the N-word, you know how it’s going to be interpreted,” Judge William McClain said. “It’s inexplicable to me that you weren’t arrested by the police that day."

    Really, Judge? It’s inexplicable to you that the police in SC failed to arrest a gaggle of rednecks waving the confederate flag, pointing firearms at black people and shouting the n-bomb? Have you slept all through your years living on Planet South Carolina?

  2. Avatar for ajm ajm says:

    This.

  3. Can any of the Trumpeteers, or Trump,say anything that is near correct the first time around?

  4. Too late, Ms. DeVos; are you not aware of something called “The Internet”? There are words and pictures.

  5. The insincere walk-back. The consistent direction of the GOP walking brain-dead.

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