White North Carolina Lawmaker Apologizes After Asking Black Colleague Racist Question

A white North Carolina lawmaker apologized for asking his Black colleague a racially motivated question about his educational achievements during a heated exchange on the House floor Wednesday.

{snip} Rep. Jeff McNeely, a Stony Point Republican and a member of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, interrupted Raleigh-based Democratic Rep. Abe Jones, who is Black, amid a discussion about an education bill that would extend the requirements for North Carolina Opportunity Scholarships.

McNeely started his question by noting Jones’ public school education before attending Harvard University and Harvard Law.

“And the question I guess, is,” he continued, according to The News & Observer, “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 …”

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