WASHINGTON — We all make mistakes, and when we do we would like a mulligan from time to time. But should any actions warrant a ransom of $8 billion in return for your freedom, your freedom of speech, and educational freedom? Should Big Government be allowed to micro-manage your institution? Harvard must win its case against President Donald Trump for the sake of America’s freedoms.

The previously designated billions of dollars in federal grant awards are for scientific research on projects like finding a cure for cancer. Historically speaking, our best college scientists provided us with the ability to save the free world during World War II via the development of the nuclear bomb. Funds do not go into Harvard’s general fund to make an already wealthy college more wealthy. Conversely, why should an elite college have to use their endowment to do work for the federal government? It makes no sense.

I do not believe that the Trump administration’s actions against Harvard have much to do with the pro-Palestinian riots on campus and antisemitism.

To claim that Harvard is antisemitic is like saying a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) is anti-civil rights. The leaders of Harvard, the president, and a very large number of other officials are Jewish. At all HBCUs their presidents and leading officials are largely Black. So, we are to believe that Harvard is antisemitic – OK – then HBCU must be anti-civil rights to follow their warped logic.

Secondly, the real reason for the attack on the elite schools is far more sinister – race. Trump does not want elite schools to promote or advance inclusion. He has given HBCUs a record amount of money to educate Black students, however. Yes, like former Alabama Governor George Wallace’s stance against integrating the University of Alabama, Trump does not want inclusion promoted. For his “logic” behind that, let’s dig deeper.

I am concerned when we have a president who in many ways shows his disdain for Black citizens and their advancement. It is even more appalling when he insinuates that his reason not to include Black people for key opportunities is due to Black people being incapable.

So, that should mean that the Black Americans from elite schools have been failing. Wrong. There is no such analytical data that would support such a claim, or that Black students cannot achieve success after going to an elite college. Despite racial challenges, that too would not be accurate.

Also, I challenge anyone who goes to elite colleges, professional schools, law firms, MBA programs, and Fortune 500 companies to get back to me if they feel they are being overrun by Black people, who took the spots that white people should have. You will be hard pressed to find more than a handful of Black men in these spots (descendants of slaves or the Caribbean). It simply has never been a problem for white people, despite what Trump would want us to believe.

Why? Maybe because after going to an elite college or graduate program you are able to compete for high paying jobs as well as million-dollar-a-year partnerships at law firms (another one of Trump’s targets) and top tech companies. Recently, the Trump administration refused to participate in interviews with highly qualified Black engineers and scientists at a prestigious job fair. Worse yet, the Trump administration allegedly pressured other leading tech companies not to participate as well.

s in his administration. You only had the “Black Job” – Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary and an ambassador to a Black country. Other Black elected officials who campaigned hard to get Trump elected got nothing. Oh, maybe they got a promise of a Trump endorsement when they seek a higher position. That’s it. Sad.

When you graduate from an elite law school or from an elite business school you then get recruited by all the major and mid-size law firms, top corporations and consulting firms with a starting salary that would eclipse the salaries of Congress members and could sometimes be more than the salaries of Supreme Court justices and the president’s cabinet members. If you do not go to an elite law school or an MBA program, you are not likely to even get an interview – for that is where they exclusively “recruit” from. (First year law associates earn $225,000 plus $20,000 and first year MBA graduates earn from $200,000 to $400,000 ).

Heck, a 22-year-old graduate of MIT will make over $126,000 in his or her first job. In the 1970s, immediately after I graduated from Yale College, I made more money working for a Fortune 500 company than my mother and father combined.

We want all Americans to strive for excellence. We want all Americans to have the opportunity to compete fairly and that means “inclusion.” Trump wants to halt inclusion.

These actions will only increase the income gap between the races, potentially making our already deplorable labor workforce participation rate worse.

The main reasons why we are struggling fiscally have little to do with government spending (other than on entitlements, servicing our $36 trillion debt, and spending on defense), but is due to the nation’s creation of more and more people who are doing so poorly economically that they qualify for government assistance.

If 40% of the people in one of the nation’s richest states, Connecticut, are fearful or “stressed out” due to their financial status, what does that say for the other states?

The labor force participation rate in America shows that 38% of Americans are not working or seeking a job. Thus, creating more poor people instead of creating more good paying jobs is the root cause of our nation’s fiscal crisis. Until we ensure that all Americans feel the American Dream is actually for them too, the nation will struggle economically.

— — —

Gary Franks served three terms as a congressman from Connecticut’s 5th District. He was the first Black conservative elected to Congress and first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years. Host: Podcast “We Speak Frankly” www.garyfranksphilanthropy.org