Conservative black scholar Thomas Sowell, now 92 but still as courageous and perceptive as ever, has, to engage in understatement, been critical of the fake history “1619 Project,” now being inflicted on school children across the country. That centerpiece of current CRT indoctrination is the brain-child of Nicole Hannah-Jones, an African-American reporter with an agenda, and for her divisive misinformation, declared hooey by a large number of historians who can smell rot when they encounter it, she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, and later a tenured chair in “Race and Journalism,” as if that was a legitimate study rather than propaganda, at Howard.
Flushed with the perceived authority such a contrived position confers, and lacking the sense God gave a lemming, Professor Hannah-Jones took to Twitter yesterday to sneer, “Other than being Black, what exactly is Sowell’s expertise in slavery or history?” Proving that she asked this employing the same diligence and research skills that marked her “1619 Project” (which claimed that the American Revolution was fought to protect slavery, and is low-grade baloney), one of the many Twitterphiles who weighed in to mock her listed Sowell’s relevant publications by year:
1971. Economics: Analysis and Issues. Scott Foresman & Co.
1972. Black Education: Myths and Tragedies. David McKay Co. . ISBN 0-679-30015-5 .
1972. Say’s Law: An Historical Analysis. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-04166-7.
1974. Classical Economics Reconsidered. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00358-0.
1975. Race and Economics. David McKay Co. ISBN 978-0-679-30262-9.
1980. Knowledge and Decisions. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-03736-0.
1981. Ethnic America: A History . Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02074-7 .
Chapter 1, “The American Mosaic .”
1981. Markets and Minorities. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-04399-2 .
1981. Pink and Brown People: and Other Controversial Essays . Hoover Press . ISBN 0-8179-7532-2.
1983. The Economics and Politics of Race. William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-01891-2.
1984. Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality? William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-03113-7.
1985. Marxism: Philosophy and Economics. Quill. ISBN 0-688-06426-4.
1986. Education: Assumptions Versus History. Hoover Press. ISBN 0-8179-8112-8.
1987. A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles . William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-06912-6 .
1987. Compassion Versus Guilt and Other Essays. William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-07114-7.
1990. Preferential Policies: An International Perspective. ISBN 0-688-08599-7
1993. Inside American Education. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-5408-2.
1993. Is Reality Optional?: and Other Essays. Hoover. ISBN 978-0-8179-9262-0.
1995. Race and Culture: A World View. ISBN 0-465-06796-4.
1995. The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-08995-X.
1996. Migrations and Cultures: A World View. ISBN 0-465-04589-8. OCLC 41748039.
1998. Conquests and Cultures: An International History. ISBN 0-465-01400-3.
1998. Late-Talking Children. ISBN 0-465-03835-2.
1999. The Quest for Cosmic Justice . ISBN 0-684-86463-0.
2000. A Personal Odyssey. ISBN 0-684-86465-7.
2000. Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy (1st ed.) . Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-08145-2.
2002. Controversial Essays. Hoover. ISBN 0-8179-2992-4.
2002. The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late. ISBN 0-465-08141-X.
2003. Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One. ISBN 0-465-08143-6.
2004. Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press . ISBN 978-0-300-10775-3 .
2004. Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy (revised and expanded ed.). New York: Basic Books.
2005. Black Rednecks and White Liberals. San Francisco: Encounter Books. ISBN 978-1-59403-086-4.
2006. Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays . Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press. ISBN 978-0-8179-4752-1. OCLC 253604328. ASIN 0817947523 .
2006. On Classical Economics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12606-8.[118]
2007. A Man of Letters. San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books. ISBN 978-1-59403-196-0.
2007. Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (3rd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00260-3. OCLC 76897806.
2008. Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One (2nd ed.). Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00345-7 . OCLC 260206351 .
2008. Economic Facts and Fallacies . Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00349-5. OCLC 1033591370. ASIN 0465003494.
2009. The Housing Boom and Bust. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-01880-2.
Chapter 5, “The Past and the Future.”
2010. Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (4th ed.). Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02252-6.
2010. Dismantling America: and Other Controversial Essays. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02251-9 . OCLC 688505777 .
2010. Intellectuals and Society . Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-01948-9 . Lay summary .
2011. The Thomas Sowell Reader. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02250-2.
2011. Economic Facts and Fallacies, 2nd edition. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465022038
2013. Intellectuals and Race. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-05872-3.
2014. Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (5th ed.). New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-06073-3.
2015. Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective.[119]
2016. Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective (2nd ed.). ISBN 978-0-465-09676-3.
2018. Discrimination and Disparities. ISBN 978-1-541-64560-8.
2019. Discrimination and Disparities (revised, enlarged ed.) ISBN 978-1-541-64563-9.
2020. Charter Schools and Their Enemies. ISBN 978-1-541-67513-1.
Wouldn’t you think a Pulitzer-winning journalist would have the integrity, not to mention the sense, to check the record before making the implied accusation that Thomas Sowell doesn’t know what he’s talking about—you know, like her? One of Sowell’s quotes has also appeared in response to the tweet: “It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance.”
And yet the United States’ educators allow hubris-stained fools like Nicole Hannah-Jones to manipulate the thoughts of rising generations.
_________________________
Pointer: Samizdata
Ethics Alarms 
Prof. Sowell, a national treasure, was undoubtedly product of meritocracy and most definitely earned everything he achieved based on his abilities. He also studied and excelled in real scholar fields.
Nicole Hannah-Jones is product of affirmative actions and intersectional promotions and I highly doubt she earned anything in her life based on her merits; oh, and she only ventured into lesser fields (African American studies and journalism).
So, yeah. She can STFU
Undoubtedly Professor John McWhorter, Ph.D. is also a bit of an annoying irritant in Hannah-Jones’ otherwise perfect, placid, undisturbed, self-righteous, bubble world, that pays the bills and then some.
She is quite the expert at working the system, made easier in today’s woke social climate.
That is some nice freedom of choice you have there Hannah, be careful not to let your bitterness derail your lucrative little scheme.
I’m not trying to defend Jones but do we know if indeed she’s a recipient of affirmative action?
We do not. You beat me to it, Mrs. Q, but you’re usually a couple of steps ahead.
Of course, the question unfairly dogs African-Americans of all levels of ability, just as it is so often assumed that the children of the rich, famous and powerful haven’t earned their own success. Hell, my odds of getting into Harvard were greatly improved by the fact that Dad was an alumnus. Would I have been admitted otherwise? Impossible to say. All you can do is make the most of whatever breaks you get. Hannah-Jones has.
Me, not so much.
NHJ has a typical Affirmative Action hire attitude; she advanced to 3rd base by criteria hell-n-gone from a fact-based Reality and thinking she hit a triple.
Even the noticeably incomplete body** of Sowell’s work listed above grinds her laughably paltry contributions into fine dust.
**Any discussion of Sowell’s voluminous scholarship would be (IMO) incomplete without SEDUCTIVE BELIEFS Part I and
Part II
She got her BA at Notre Dame. Shame, shame on old Notre Dame. Her mother is WHITE!
One could ask her the same question.
Professor Sowell could have had a list of credits twice as long and she would have still dismissed him as an “Uncle Tom.”
I have often said, referring to the woke and the young, that they are passionate in their ignorance.
IOW: Always Wrong But Never In Doubt
I have only read a couple of Sowell’s books, but if NHJ were amenable to suggestions, I’d have her start with “Discrimination and Disparities.”
But, I doubt that it would resonate with her. Sowell’s comment about the futility of talking with those who enjoy “a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance” certainly applies. I usually phrase that as “There’s no point in arguing with true believers or idiots.” I like his phrasing better.
On an online forum, the point of arguing is to convince on-the-fence lurkers.
Perhaps we all should be writing our congress critters instead of each other.
Wow!
That list of books puts many a fiction author to shame – and they generally have to do a lot less research.
I have heard innumerable good things about Professor Sowell, but I am definitely impressed anew.
Diego Garcia,
He is a wonderful writer.
I have typically harbored a special contempt for chiropractors, political scientists, psychologists, and economists (you know—the fake sciences).
Having said that, since the first time I read him (maybe 1995), Sowell was very persuasive.
More recently, my in-laws got me his book, Basic Economics for my birthday. It was a very enlightening read. Put another way: it helped me think about the world in ways I had not previously thought about it. It forced me to hold economists in less contempt, but Klugman (an intentional typo) is still holding the center, with the assistance of Reich.
I have since read a number of other books by him (and have put a few more in the queue for later). Many of the themes get repeated in what I have read. But, what shines through is a mind that is wise, that does not cut corners, and that actively tries to understand the world without resorting to biases and prejudice.
And, he writes well.
One of his best lines from Basic Economics (you likely won’t see this quoted on Facebook) came in a footnote on Page 874 (or something) where he said Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations because he was upset about the economic system of the time, Sowell’s observation being that no one writes a 700 page treatise if they are happy with the way society is headed.
-Jut
Yes, the 1619 project is a lot of fictional racist propaganda, but that fact in no way prevents schools from pushing it on children. The crux being all White people are bad and all black people are good. Another example of racist fiction is the movie currently in theaters “The Woman King”. A story of the very real Dahomey kingdom of 17th-18th centuries Africa. The movie portrays noble black warriors against White slave traders. But the reality is that it was those woman warriors that were themselves the brutal enslavers of other blacks and traded them to the Europeans for various goods such as weapons, alcohol, tobacco, clothing, etc. These women and the Europeans were not adversaries, but business partners. Whitewashing of black history, the irony is interesting.
I have not heard of a public or private school, and sad to say, many colleges that teach facts. Society would be further ahead if facts were taught instead of allowing false facts. We would not be in the bind we are with race issues that we are now experiencing and the promotion of communism and hate if the truth had not been abandoned in our society. There are no meaningful consequences when the discovery of truth is abandoned.
It takes bravery to teach truthful history.
It does depend on where the false facts are.
We have to tolerate false facts in certain places for the greater good.
Whaty is next?
A movie about how Hitler tried tio stop the Holocaust?
“And yet the United States’ educators allow hubris-stained fools like Nicole Hannah-Jones to manipulate the thoughts of rising generations.”
They don’t “allow” them as though it is some sort of accident or oversight. American ‘education’, thoroughly in the grips of marxist hatred of the United States *intentionally* do this.