00:00Thank you for holding this hearing. And thank you to all the witnesses for taking the time to be here. We certainly really appreciate it. Dr. Harper, I've got a couple questions for you. Just starting out, do you believe that ageism is a form of bigotry?
00:16Yes, you do. Yeah, I thought so because you wrote an article saying that ageism and media discourse about Biden's re-election is an issue. Do you still believe that ageism was an issue in the past election cycle?
00:31I believe that ageism in any form and in any context is a problem.
00:36Do you believe that Americans who are concerned about Joe Biden's age were bigoted?
00:40I did not say that in my article, nor do I claim that now.
00:44You said that ageism is a form of bigotry.
00:47Ageism is a form of bigotry, but I did not say that in my article. You cannot misrepresent my ideal.
00:54Okay, well, why don't you provide your explanation for that? Ageism is a form of bigotry. People who were concerned about Joe Biden's age were ageist. How do you square that?
01:03I'm less concerned about Joe Biden's age. I am more concerned about young people and older Americans being systematically denied opportunities and access because of their age.
01:19Do you think that Joe Biden's age had a relation to his cognitive decline?
01:24That is outside of my area of expertise.
01:28Do you need to be an expert to determine whether an 82-year-old man who is clearly, visibly declining mentally on camera, if that has anything to do with his age?
01:41I'm not a cognitive scientist.
01:43You're not. Okay. Of course you're not.
01:46Do you think those Americans were right to be concerned about Joe Biden's age?
01:49Again, you're missing the point. The point is about the ageism itself. It isn't about Joe Biden.
01:58We're going to move on. Do you believe that America should be a colorblind society?
02:04For instance, should people be treated differently based on their race?
02:09It's just a yes or no question.
02:11It's not a yes or no question.
02:13It's a yes or no question.
02:14It is a, as I said in the beginning of my testimony, America has not done right by indigenous peoples, by black people, by Asian American and Pacific Islander people.
02:26Should people be treated differently based on their race? Yes or no?
02:30People should receive the services and the support and the remedies that are owed to them.
02:35So your answer is that they should be treated differently based on their race?
02:37They should receive the remedies that are owed to them because of the systemic racism and injustice.
02:42Do you believe that race should be considered an employer hiring practices?
02:48I do not believe that white people are the only qualified people for jobs.
02:53I didn't say that. Nobody said that.
02:55I asked you if race should be considered an employer hiring practices.
02:58And you're not going to intimidate me by slandering me as a racist.
03:02You're also, I did not call you a racist.
03:04You're not going to intimidate me by insisting that I called you a racist.
03:07I'm asking you a straightforward question. It's a yes or no question.
03:09Should race be considered an employer hiring practices? Yes or no?
03:14I believe that diversity ought to be considered as companies and other organizations attempt to reflect their customers, our country.
03:23I'll take that as a yes. Which race do you think should be preferred?
03:28I do not think that a single race should be preferred.
03:30You just said that you believe that race should be considered an employer hiring practices.
03:35I don't know. There's going to be a transcript of this hearing. I didn't say that in that way.
03:40Okay. Why don't you explain what you believe?
03:42What I said and what I believe is that the demographic composition of workplaces, our nation's military, and so on, our Congress ought to reflect the diversity of the United States of America.
03:57Demographic composition. Racial demographic. Is that what you're saying?
04:00Racial? Gender?
04:02Okay. So race should be a factor in employer hiring practices. That's what you're saying, is it not?
04:09Organizations ought to attempt to match the diversity of their...
04:13You're hopping around the question.
04:14No, I am answering quite straightforwardly as a matter of fact.
04:17Determine which races are preferred.
04:22I don't... I already told you I don't have a single racial group that ought to be...
04:26You just told me that you believe that the demographic... the racial demographic makeup should be taken into account in hiring practices.
04:32And it should be reflected in all levels of companies and other organizations.
04:37Let's talk about college admissions. If two different children are applying for college, let's say one is white and one is black, and there's one slot available, should they be evaluated based on the same objective criteria?
04:52Test scores, for instance.
04:54Are you familiar with holistic admissions?
04:56Should they be held to the same standards regarding test scores?
05:00I am a proponent of holistic admissions.
05:03It's just a yes or no question.
05:04Yeah, no, I can't answer that question for you as a proponent of holistic admissions.
