It's one of the correlaries of the mismatch thesis. The black kid with 1250 on his SATs is not a bad student. He is a well above average student who would be a fine match at Penn State or Tennessee or Clemson or many other solid, somewhat above average universities. He could earn a solid degree in a solid field and go on to a fine career based entirely on merit. If he catches fire academically and/or finds a passion, he may shoot for the elite in grad school and beyond. But if Harvard AAs him in -- and based on the data that emerged in the recent admissions litigation, Harvard regards a 1250 SAT score plus black skin as prime Harvard material -- he is thrown into a situation in which he's immediately in the academic cellar. He's far behind at the start and unlikely to catch up. Harvard's solution is to toss him into grievance studies where there are no standards and where he is taught that all of society is a vast racist conspiracy to keep him down. He is likely to emerge well-educated, resentful, angry and unfit for employment anywhere except government or academia, where a racialized bad attitude is now prized as being woke. And the cycle repeats.
It's easy to criticize the result. But it's always important to remember that this kid started out as a pretty decent student who could have earned success had he not been set up for failure.