Pence says he does not believe racial inequality exists in US school system

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that he does not believe racial inequality exists in the United States’ school system when asked to weigh in on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that upended affirmative action in college admissions.

When discussing the recent Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, CBS’s Margaret Brennan asked Pence on “Face the Nation” whether he believes racial inequality exists in the system. The GOP presidential candidate answered that while he believes racial inequality existed at one point, it no longer does.

“I really don’t believe there is. I believe there was,” he responded. “I mean, it’s — 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.”

The court invalidated Harvard’s and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s (UNC) admissions practices by ruling last week that they did not comply with the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. Pence argued that this ruling proves that race-based admissions are no longer needed because higher education universities have opened their doors to minority students, adding that it is a “tribute to our nation.”

“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,” he said.

“I really believe that the accomplishments of America’s students, particularly our minority students, the great achievements that — that African Americans have — have reached in this country on that educational foundation, I think tells us that — that we’ve opened those doors and minority students on our campuses have excelled and I’m confident those doors will remain open,” Pence added. “And we’ll continue to move forward as a colorblind society, which is really, the aspiration I believe of every American.”