NC lawmaker asks Black colleague: Would you have gone to Harvard if not an athlete or a minority?

During debate over expanding vouchers for private schools in the state in the North Carolina House, a Republican lawmaker asked one of his Black colleagues if he would have been able to go to Harvard University because he was an athlete or a minority.

Rep. Jeff McNeely, an Iredell County Republican, later apologized on the House floor and again after the session to Rep. Abe Jones, a Wake County Democrat, for his comment.

During Jones' debate, McNeely rose to ask if Jones would answer a question. Jones accepted.

"I understand that you went into the public school and you went to Harvard and Harvard Law," McNeely began. "And the question, I guess, is 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 that the slowest —."

McNeely stopped himself, resuming with a new thought. "In the wild we'll say the slowest gazelle does not survive," he continued," but yet the herd moves at that pace. So the brightest child sometimes is held back."

Rep. Robert Reives, the Democratic leader, rose for a point of order.

"OK, I'm hoping I wasn't the only one that got shocked by that comment that the only reason you went to Harvard was because you were Black and an athlete," Reives said.

McNeely interjected.

"I did not say that," he said. "I said did that end up being one of the reasons. I do not know that. I asked him."

McNeely then said he apologized and would rephrase.

But House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican, who said he was reading a note and didn't hear what was happening, told McNeely that he was no longer recognized to speak.

The school voucher bill passed.

Later, McNeely offered an apology on the floor.

"I want to deeply apologize to Rep. Jones and to this entire body," McNeely said. "I respect Rep. Jones. I think he's a great legislator. I think he's a great man. What I tried to ask or say did not come out right. That happens a lot. And I apologize. I look forward to talking with Rep. Jones as soon as session is over to express my deep, deep sincere apology and I hope he accepts it."

McNeely, a House Deputy Majority Whip, has served in the House since 2020.

Jones, in his second term in the House, attended public school in Wake County and was the first Black member of the student council at Enloe High School. His father was a professor at St. Augustine's. He ran middle distance events at Harvard, graduated from Harvard Law School and eventually served for 17 years as a Superior Court Judge.

Jones, in a phone interview with WRAL after the voting session, said several Republican members came up to him to apologize as well.

"That was heart-warming because I could tell at a basic level they were sorry it was said. I was sorry it was said," Jones said.

Jones said he was caught off-guard on the House floor.

"I couldn't quite believe what he was saying," Jones said, who added that he finished in the top 40% of his class at Harvard and was accepted into Harvard Law School after finishing his undergraduate work. "I did very well academically."

The House voted along party lines Tuesday to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto on a bill to tighten abortion restrictions. On Wednesday, they tackled another polarizing issue: school vouchers.

"It's been an intense time," Jones said. "I think that's how that happened."

Reives said in a statement after the session that he felt compelled to speak out after two incidents.

The incident comes one day after Rep. Keith Kidwell, a Republican from Beaufort County, made a off-handed remark about Democratic Rep. Diamond Stanton-Williams. She was discussing her decision to have an abortion and as she mentioned growing up in the church, Kidwell, R-Beaufort, quipped to staffers that Staton-Williams must have meant the Church of Satan.

“I feel compelled to speak out when members of our caucus are targeted with unfair, untrue or hurtful remarks — especially when said by members of the Majority on the floor of the House,” Reives said. “This is a deliberative body. We should conduct ourselves appropriately and with respect for every member of this House.”