U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos tried to give a speech at the graduation ceremony of a historically black university, and things did not go well for her.
When DeVos began to speak at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, the students loudly booed her and turned their backs. “I am honored to become a Wildcat,” DeVos started out, waving her honorary doctorate in the air proudly. And then the boos started and they did not stop.
“If this behavior continues your degrees will be mailed to you,” insisted Edison Jackson, the school’s president. “Choose which way you want to go.” Unfortunately for DeVos, that didn’t shut them up. Jackson was also booed when he tried mentioned White House communications official Omarosa Manigault. “You don’t know her, nor do you know her story,” Jackson whined, which only prompted the crowd to boo more.
The decision to have DeVos give the keynote address at the graduation ceremony has been a source of contention since the announcement was made. On Tuesday, protesters presented the school with petitions and called on leaders to cancel her speech. The petition had garnered 50,000 signatures. According to their complaints, not only has DeVos failed to support student loan borrowers, but she is also fundamentally ignorant about HBCUs.
She proved this last part herself in February when she said that HBCUs were “real pioneers when it comes to school choice.”
“They saw that the system wasn’t working, that there was an absence of opportunity, so they took it upon themselves to provide the solution,” she said in a statement after meeting with school leaders.
As a result of these obviously problematic remarks, DeVos has been accused “whitewashing” the history of these historically black institutions. In an attempt to save face, she later said that these schools arose “out of necessity, in the face of racism.” But that doesn’t seem to have been enough to appease the students who just booed her.
Jasmine Johnson, one of the graduating students who was not even a little impressed with DeVos’ presence, explained why she was so upset. “For someone to come and speak at my commencement that cannot relate to me or know what I have been through is kind of like a slap in the face,” she said.
According to the petition against DeVos’ visit, asking her to speak at the commencement ceremony was an “insult” to the school’s legacy. In addition, the NAACP Florida State Conference is calling for Jackson’s resignation.
You can watch DeVos get humiliated here:
Featured image via video screen capture
