Kim Pearson ― Towards a Genealogy of Black Conservative Thought

In an article for BlogHer, Kim Pearson sheds some light on America's black conservative intellectual tradition.

Asserts the associate professor of journalism at The College of  New Jersey:  "As I tried to show in my post last week on Why Black History Month Still Matters, much of our contemporary discourse has important historic roots. The black conservative intellectual tradition is one example that I think bears some examination. That tradition illuminates the complex ways in which African American thought is intertwined with and simultaneously distinct from other American intellectual traditions. In this post, I want to compare and contrast just a few examples of historical and contemporary black conservative argument."

Professor Pearson continues her commentary: "Of course, it's important to carefully contextualize the thinkers and thought that I'm about to discuss. Regardless of their ideological leanings, I can't say I've come across many black folks meditating on the wisdom of Edmund Burke or other philosophical lions of mainstream conservative thought. Black political thought has largely been concerned with finding a way to end slavery and the differential opportunities of Jim Crow and its aftermath. What I think of as the modern wave of black conservatism dates back to the early 1980s when people such as economist Glenn Loury tried to convince the Urban League to abandon protest politics in favor of character education and free-market solutions to black poverty. Clearly, we are talking about very different periods and priorities."

Read the full article HERE: