‘1619’ founder sees ‘racism’

The founder of the controversial 1619 Project has claimed the loudest critics calling for embattled Harvard president Claudine Gay’s ouster are “pretending” to be concerned about antisemitism — calling it a cover to further promote “racial division.”

Nikole Hannah-Jones (inset) argued some of Gay’s toughest critics are using her comments about genocide at a congressional hearing last week as an “opening” to oust the black leader as part of their campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on campus.

“They’re using the guise of pretending that this is about concern over antisemitism — which is, of course, something that all of us should be concerned about,” she told CNN’s Abby Phillip Wednesday night. “It really just furthers their propaganda campaign against racial equality.”

Hannah-Jones said it was unfair to suggest that Gay has survived calls for her to resign solely because of her race despite claims she was hired solely because of the university’s DEI initiative.

“It’s racist. I mean, we have — no one has produced a shred of evidence that shows that the sole qualification that President Gay had was that she is a black woman. That’s insulting. It defies logic,” she said.

The scholar went on to highlight Harvard’s historical racial quotas and noted that for 370 years, the Ivy League institution only appointed white men as its presidents.

“When you think about the fact that Harvard, this nation’s oldest university, had about a 370-year explicit racial quota of only hiring white men to be the president, it’s laughable to think the first ever black woman following that unbroken line of white racial quotas is the one who’s unqualified,” she said.