Joy Ann Reid: ‘I Got into Harvard Only Because of Affirmative Action’

EXCERPT:

REID: “Let me just be clear. I got into Harvard only because of affirmative action. I went to a school no one had ever heard of in Denver, Colorado, in a small suburb. I didn’t go to Exeter or Andover. I didn’t have college test prep. I just happened to be really nerdy and smart and have really good grades and good SAT scores. But someone came to Denver, Colorado, to look for me. A Harvard recruiter flew to Denver, and I met me up with her at the Village Inn Restaurant and did a pre-interview to pull me into Harvard. I was pulled in — “

HAYES: “Affirmatively.”

REID: “Affirmatively, and it was literally not saying we are going to take an unqualified person and put them in Harvard. We’re going to take a very qualified person who we would never know existed and put them in Harvard. That’s how I got there.”