Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday he does not believe racial inequities exist any more in America’s school system.
His comments came in the wake of the Supreme Court gutting affirmative action in college admissions that schools used to accept students based on race.
“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked Mr. Pence about that decision and his answer that affirmative action always was meant to be a temporary solution.
Are “you saying there in that answer that you do not believe there is racial inequity in the education system in America?” she asked.
“I really don’t believe there is. I believe there was,” Mr. Pence replied.
“There may have been a time when affirmative action was necessary simply to open the doors of all of our schools and universities, but I think that time has passed,” said Mr. Pence, who is also seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
The court’s conservative majority ruled last week that race-based affirmative action violated the 14th Amendment guarantees of equal protection under the law.
Mr. Pence said he does not think that the end of race-based affirmative action means, as some liberal pundits have predicted, a return to the all-White campuses of the Jim Crow era.
“I really do believe that we can move forward as a country and embrace the notion that we’re all going to be judged not on the color of our skin, but on the content of our character, and in this case, on our GPA,” Mr. Pence said.
“I really believe that the accomplishments of America’s students, particularly our minority students, the great achievements that African Americans have reached in this country on that educational foundation, I think that tells us that we’ve opened those doors and minority students on our campuses have excelled, and I’m confident those doors will remain open,” he said.
