MSNBC anchor Joy Reid has recently made a shocking announcement, admitting that her admission to Harvard was solely because of affirmative action. With the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to end race-based affirmative action policies at all colleges and universities, Reid’s statement has caused outrage among conservative circles.
Joy Reid: “I got into Harvard because of affirmative action”
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 3, 2023
According to Reid, she went to a school in Denver, Colorado that nobody had ever heard of, and she didn’t have college test prep. However, because of her minority status, a Harvard recruiter flew to Denver to interview her, and she was eventually granted admission. This begs the question: how many other less-qualified minority students have been admitted to universities because of affirmative action?
Justice Clarence Thomas, a black justice on the Supreme Court who has rejected affirmative action policies in the past, shares this sentiment. In his concurring opinion, he cited the “race-based world view” shared by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Joy Reid as being discriminatory against minority students who deserve to be admitted based on their merits alone, not just their race.
Furthermore, Reid’s claim that she was “just as qualified” to attend Harvard as her non-minority peers is simply absurd. Affirmative action policies are put in place to ensure that minority students are given a leg up, regardless of their qualifications. It’s clear that without affirmative action, Reid would not have been able to attend an Ivy League institution.
Reid’s experience at Harvard is also indicative of a larger problem with affirmative action: the potential for reverse discrimination. When white students at Harvard challenged the presence of black students in their classes, it shows that affirmative action can cause resentment and division.
This revelation from Joy Reid is no surprise to many, as it’s long been suspected that affirmative action policies have allowed unqualified minority students to be admitted to universities. It’s time for universities to focus on merit-based admissions, ensuring that all students, regardless of their race or background, are given an equal opportunity to succeed.
