AP Interview: DeVos says she didn’t decry racism enough

WASHINGTON – Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is distancing herself from her comment earlier this year about the nation’s historically black colleges and universities being pioneers of school choice, saying that in the past “there were no choices” for African-Americans in higher education.

DeVos tells The Associated Press , “These HBCUs provided choices for black students that they didn’t have.”

She alienated many African-Americans in February when she described historically black colleges as “real pioneers when it comes to school choice.” In May, she was booed while attending the commencement ceremony at a historically black college in Florida.

DeVos adds that she “should have decried much more forcefully the ravages of racism in this country.”