White North Carolina Lawmaker Apologizes After Asking Black Colleague If Race, Athletics Got Him Into Harvard

A white North Carolina legislator who interrupted his Black colleague to ask a racially motivated question about his academic achievements has now apologized. 

According to The News & Observer, Rep.Jeff McNeely, a Republican and a member of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, interrupted Democratic Rep. Abe Jones, who is Black, amid a debate about an education bill that would extend the requirements for North Carolina Opportunity Scholarships.

As Jones debated the bill, McNeely interrupted him. First, he noted Jones’ public school education before attending Harvard University and Harvard Law.

Then he asked: “Would you have been able to maybe achieve this if you were not an athlete or a minority or any of these things, but you were a student trapped in a school….”

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Before McNeely could finish speaking, House Democratic leader Robert Reives intervened, calling for a point of order. “I’m hoping I wasn’t the only one that got shocked by that comment,” Reives said. “The only reason you went to Harvard is because you were Black and an athlete?”

“I did not say that,” McNeely replied, The News & Observer reported. “I said, would that, did that end up being one of the reasons? I do not know that. I asked him this.”

“I apologize, and I’ll refrain,” McNeely said. 

Jones responded and said that he didn’t know the answer to McNeely’s question but pointed out that he ranked in group two on Harvard’s five-point scale. “So I earned my place, he added, “and I did well.”

McNeely apologized to Jones before the meeting ended and alleged that lawmakers had misinterpreted his words.