The ‘but for’ arguments still seem in effect:  ‘But for’ the Civil Rights movement and some sort of radical change to get out from under being oppressed by the civil laws, and ‘but for’ for non-violent social protest for even some basic moral consideration and inclusion in civil society in the first place, black folks would not be where they are today.

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Such radical change attracts the purveyors of radical ideology, however, and can make for strange bedfellows who are tasked with trying to address the problems of the ghetto.

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Up top, Often well-meaning white liberals, social reformers, morally concerned humanists and redistributionists, bureaucrats, some black folks, academics and regular Democrat-party voters (all kinds of issues and coalitions).

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Down below:  Often radical ideologues (who don’t believe there should even be a system, man),  some advocates of violence and genuinely violent groups, ideas and incentives which often lead to grifters and shakedown artists (yet, truth be told, many quite engaged in their communities), the ‘baptized Marxism’ of liberation theology (doing good at a steep cost and deep into Leftist ideology).

Addition:  And of course all the people who don’t fit into my nor anyone else’s ramblings about them.  You know…people.

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The problems remain, however, and they are grim.  It still strikes me that politics and political movements remain often a very cumbersome and inefficient way to address these problems. One party, in particular, doesn’t really seem to have anything else.

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Interview here.

Sowell speaks about his then new book, ‘Intellectuals And Race’, and speaks against multiculturalism:

‘What multiculturalism does is it paints people into the corner in which they happen to be born. You would think that people on the left would be very sensitive to the notion that one’s whole destiny should be determined by the accident of birth as it is, say, in a caste system. But what the multiculturalism dogma does is create the same problems that the caste system creates. Multiculturalism uses more pious language, but the outcome is much the same.’

Here is Sowell, heavily influenced by the Chicago School, arguing the welfare state maintains some of the same dependence in the black community that slavery required:

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Related On This Site:   What about black people held in bondage by the laws..the liberation theology of Rev Wright…the progressive vision and the folks over at the Nation gathered piously around John Brown’s body?: Milton Friedman Via Youtube: ‘Responsibility To The Poor’……Robert George And Cornel West At Bloggingheads: “The Scandal Of The Cross”…

Race And Free Speech-From Volokh: ‘Philadelphia Mayor Suggests Magazine Article on Race Relations Isn’t Protected by the First Amendment’

Repost-Eugene Volokh At The National Review: ‘Multiculturalism: For or Against?’