Forget Jim Crow, Betsy DeVos says historically Black colleges formed due to "school choice"

Donald Trump is expected to sign a new executive order setting a funding goal for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). This comes after a “listening session” he held in the Oval Office with the presidents of HBCUs around the country.

Yet his recently appointed and highly controversial Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, issued a statement that somehow managed to embarrass the administration on what ought to have been an inclusive White House initiative:

HBCUs have been real pioneers when it comes to school choice. They are living proof that when more options are provided to students, they are afforded greater access and greater equality. Their success has shown that more options help students flourish.

DeVos seems to have no understanding of the fact that HBCUs were the only choice for Black students for much of American history. Jim Crow laws across the South severely limited which colleges and universities Black students could attend, and the few who were accepted to white schools were greeted by deadly riots.

Excuse me, @BetsyDeVosED, the system you’re describing isn’t “choice.” It’s Jim Crow and segregation. pic.twitter.com/jcZTIi7Xzr

— Keith Ellison (@keithellison) February 28, 2017

During #BlackHistoryMonth, it’s clear the head of @usedgov doesn’t understand history. Betsy DeVos needs to go back to class. https://t.co/JGZ4peKf30

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) February 28, 2017

Secy Betsy DeVos appears ignorant of racial segregation in US. #HBCUs are byproduct of racism during Jim Crow era. pic.twitter.com/XV4VS9UVye

— Kristen Clarke (@KristenClarkeJD) February 28, 2017

What's next, Japanese American kids learned better because we could focus inside those camps? Good grief. https://t.co/xZkd8wGotD

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) February 28, 2017

DeVos’s claim that school segregation was good for “choice” may be an accidentally revealing attitude. Studies suggest that her favored education reform of school vouchers have no beneficial effect on student outcomes, but increase school segregation around the country. Indeed, “school choice” has long been used as a dog whistle in white communities as a justification to remove white children from majority-Black schools.

As the day wore on, DeVos doubled down on her bizarre claim in a series of tweets:

Honored to join HBCU presidents and support their work to educate and inspire tomorrow’s leaders: https://t.co/Ht0PA5SHrC

— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) February 28, 2017

#HBCUs are such an important piece of the fabric of American history—one that encompasses some of our nation’s greatest citizens.

— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) February 28, 2017

Providing an alternative option to students denied the right to attend a quality school is the legacy of #HBCUs.

— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) February 28, 2017

But 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.

— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) February 28, 2017

#HBCUs remain at the forefront of opening doors that had previously been closed to so many.

— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) February 28, 2017

We need more good schools. We need more good teachers. And no child should be denied the opportunity to enter a great school. Not one.

— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) February 28, 2017

In other words, she is continuing to push the historically inaccurate idea that school segregation was an “alternative option,” without a clear explanation of what it was an alternative to.

It was already apparent that DeVos is unqualified to lead the Department of Education, from her failure to understand student growth vs student proficiency, to her ignorance that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is a federal mandate, to her noncommittal attitude towards fighting sexual assault on college campuses.

But her latest statement shows DeVos is not just unqualified — she has no grasp of a basic civil rights conflict that took up the better part of the twentieth century. The foremost official in charge of teaching our children about our nation’s history has apparently no understanding of the consequences of Jim Crow segregation on our education system. And that does not bode well for the future of that system, or the students it purports to serve.