Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell (born June 30, 1930) is America's most famous African American conservative author. Among his many other books, A Conflict of Visions contrasts the political beliefs of the modern left and right. Sowell has a Ph.D in Economics from University of Chicago along with an undergraduate degree from Harvard University, and is currently a Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

Sowell, who cites George Will as a personal influence, prefers writing for popular audiences over writing for more "academic" settings, saying that "writing for the general public enables him to address the heart of issues without the smoke and mirrors that so often accompany academic writing".

Sowell wrote a well-researched book criticizing "black redneck culture" in which he points out that, "some blacks resent anything that suggests anything negative about themselves."

Quotes

• The NAACP's decision to back the teachers' unions, who donate money to them, against charter schools that provide thousands of black children their only hope of a better life, means that the NAACP should no longer be considered part of the civil rights movement, but just another part of the race hustling racket.
• "Too much of what is called 'education' is little more than an expensive isolation from reality."
• "Our schools and colleges are turning out people who cannot feel fulfilled unless they are telling other people what to do."
• "Why is it that so many people who are 'pro-choice' when it comes to abortion are against choice when it comes to letting parents choose where their children go to school?"
• "We pay a lot of lip service to educational excellence. But too many institutions and individuals that have produced good educational results for minority students have not only failed to get support, but have even been undermined."
• "'Racism' is the trump card in the indictment of Republicans. But the cold fact is that the whole Jim Crow era in the South was dominated by Democrats."
• "Facts." (answering Peter Robinson's "You used to be a Marxist. What changed your mind?")

See also

• Black history
• Colion Noir, Alfonzo Rachel, Alex Barron, Sheriff David Clarke, Dr. Benjamin Carson, Alan Keyes, Reginald Kaigler (Demcad), Clarence Thomas, (See Black conservatives and AfricanAmericanConservatives.com)

Writings

• Some Thoughts about Writing