| Contents |
Classical Liberalism, Social Justice, and Black America -- Liberation Through Abolition: the Black American Pro-Constitutional Tradition -- Liberation Through the Freedom to Move:the Struggle for Black Property -- No Liberation without the Equal Protection of the Law: Black Resistance in the Face of Atrocities -- Liberation Through Civil Society: the Black Church -- Liberation Through Business: Black Self-Help and Empowerment -- No Liberation without Freedom of Contract: Eugenics, the Minimum Wage, and Labor Unions -- No Liberation without Ownership: Housing and Highways -- Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: the Crowding Out of Black America -- Prisons, Drugs, and Gun Laws: American Problems. |
| Abstract |
If we face America's racial history squarely, will it mean that the American project is a failure? Conversely, if we think the American project is a worthy endeavor, do we have to lie, downplay, or equivocate about our past? In this book, we use the classical liberal lens to ask Americans on the political right to seriously reckon with America's deep racial pain--much of which arises from violations of rights that conservatives say they deeply value, such as property rights, freedom of contract, and the protection of the rule of law. We ask those on the left to take a hard look at the failed paternalism, and in some cases, thoroughgoing racism of past progressive policy. All Americans are asked to apply their concern for individual rights and constitutional order fairly to our historical record. What readers will find are deep injustices against black Americans. But they will also find black entrepreneurs overcoming amazing obstacles and a black community that has created flourishing institutions and culture. Exhausted by extremism on both left and right, a majority of Americans--black and white--love this country and want to do right by all of its citizens. In Black Liberation Through the Marketplace , readers will come away with a better understanding of black history and creative ideas for how to make this nation truly one with liberty and justice for all. |
