Conservative activist Kenny Xu, who has successfully fought affirmative action at universities across the country, said Thursday he plans to run for Congress in North Carolina as a Republican.
He entered the GOP primary for North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional district, which includes Wake Forest and north Raleigh.
It is currently held by two-term Democrat Deborah Ross.
Xu, 26, the well-educated son of Chinese immigrants, has fought anti-Asian discrimination at Harvard leading to the Supreme Court’s seismic ruling against affirmative action at the college in June.
He has also fought against what he sees as harmful diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies at US medical schools, including the University of North Carolina.
Xu says that too many “awakened” policies are being endorsed and funded by the federal government – and now wants to take them away from elected officials.
26-year-old conservative activist Kenny Xu has just announced his candidacy for Congress from North Carolina. He will campaign for the state’s Second Congressional district. Kenny Xu for Congress
“It really depends on who in Congress will represent justice for all Americans and right now I am that voice,” Xu told The Post Thursday.
“What I see happening in medical schools and in colleges and in companies is largely sponsored by the federal government. So the next step for me is to take it at the federal government level.”
The district is Democratically held and is not rated as competitive in the 2024 election by political forecasters The Cook Report.
Deborah Ross, the Democratic incumbent in the seat Xu is targeting, was first elected in 2020 and is expected to seek a third term. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
But Xu sees the Biden-Harris agenda, as he calls it, heavily focused on promoting DEI policies, especially when it comes to education, at the expense of fairness and merit.
“Their Build Back Better program is asking for federal funding for certain institutions that insist on hiring a number of minorities into their executive leadership, which is discrimination,” Xu said. “That’s not fair. That is exactly what DEI is.
“I am also against their education agenda,” he added. “They launched a $122 billion subsidy for education funding.
Kenny Xu has fought anti-Asian discrimination at Harvard and DEI at the medical school.Kate Medley
“Most of it goes to schools and institutions that are incentivized to use DEI policies to counter the effects of the outbreak. All of these policies are incentivized by federal government policies.”
Xu also criticized Attorney General Merrick Garland’s September 2021 memo directing the FBI to investigate parents who protest DEI policies at school board meetings.
“This is a local issue,” Xu said. “You shouldn’t have gotten the FBI involved.”
Xu advised plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in 2014 by Asian-Americans against Harvard College alleging race-based discrimination.
Xu’s first book focused on a 2014 lawsuit filed against Harvard College alleging anti-Asian discrimination.
Xu’s second book focuses on critical race theory in American schools.
The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in their favor and banned race-based admissions in a seismic decision earlier this year ending affirmative action at colleges.
Xu is the author of “Troubling Minorities: The Case of Harvard Admissions and the Assault on Asian American Excellence,” and “School of Woke: How Critical Race Theories Infiltrated American Schools and Why We Must Reclaim Them.”
Xu and his group, Color Us United, have been working to end DEI policies in medical schools.
In February, after Xu’s lobbying efforts, the board of governors at the University of North Carolina voted to ban DEI statements from taking into account hiring and service decisions.
Xu told The Post that being an elected official would help him fight DEI in college. Getty Images
Xu and his three-person organization began their campaign at UNC by lobbying medical school trustees, many of whom, he said, did not understand what DEI actually meant and how it had come to exist in the university and medical school.
Before Xu appeared on the scene, the UNC medical school’s Guidelines for Appointments, Promotions and Tenure stated that all applicants who wanted to work at the school had to provide a statement involving “the depth and breadth of their efforts in each field (DEI), including but not limited to work impact, philosophy and style, team-based projects, and mentee interactions.”
During Xu’s initial campaign, the school’s governing board voted to ban DEI statements from taking hiring and service decisions. In June 2023, the UNC School of Medicine canceled their DEI framework.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
