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The out New York Times columnist called out the education secretary for calling historically-black colleges and universities "pioneers when it comes to school choice."
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is facing criticism for calling historically black colleges and universities "real pioneers when it comes to school choice." Bisexual New York Times columnist Charles Blow responded to her words on Twitter, saying, "What the absolute hell is this?!!! What kind of twisting [of] history to suit your agenda?! I'm just SICK..."
DeVos was criticized for seemingly being unaware that historically black colleges existed because black students were barred from attending most white universities. DeVos gave the impression that black students capriciously established institutions like D.C.'s Howard University and Atlanta's Morehouse College to segregate themselves from white students, according to The New York Times.
Along with President Trump, school voucher-supporter DeVos met with presidents from historically black colleges and universities Monday. The misguided comments from DeVos came from a statement the Education secretary released after the meeting.
"They started from the fact that there were too many students in America who did not have equal access to education," DeVos said in the statement. "They saw that the system wasn't working, that there was an absence of opportunity, so they took it upon themselves to provide the solution." Then the secretary called the schools "real pioneers when it comes to school choice."
Charles Blow responded to the news on Twitter, criticizing the presidents who met with DeVos.
\u201cHBCU presidents, you look stupid as hell! You let yourselves be USED for a photo op by an admin working feverishly to roll back blk rights\u2026\u201d— Charles M. Blow (@Charles M. Blow) 1488311426
After DeVos gor blowback for her comments, Blow quoted a tweet from CNN and said:
\u201cAs she should be. This was the most ridiculous nonsense ever written... #DingbatBetsyDeVos https://t.co/UZ28HyzRQ8\u201d— Charles M. Blow (@Charles M. Blow) 1488326838
