At the recent National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, Florida, a number of right wing figures came forth to pontificate about conservatism. Conservative columnist David Brooks opinion on the conference was as follows. “Sitting in that Orlando hotel, I found myself thinking of what I was seeing as some kind of new theme park: NatCon World, a hermetically sealed dystopian universe with its own confected thrills and chills, its own illiberal rides. I tried to console myself by noting that this NatCon theme park is the brainchild of a few isolated intellectuals with a screwy view of American politics and history. But the disconcerting reality is that America’s rarified NatCon World is just one piece of a larger illiberal populist revolt that is strong and rising” Needless to say Mr. Brooks does not have great expectations for the future of conservatism if this conference was indicative of it’s future leadership.
One of the most interesting and perhaps bizarre aspects of the conference was the keynote speech by economist and self proclaimed intellectual Glenn Loury who has gone from being a conservative when he served at the American Enterprise Institute, to a liberal and back to a conservative again. This switch back to the conservative side was because in his words he had been radicalized by the conversation about race and he was there to challenge the zeitgeist. How noble of Dr. Loury.
As he declared that as a black man “Tolstoy is mine! Dickens is mine! Milton, Marx, and Einstein are mine!” .“Our Americanness is much more important than our Blackness.” He went on to say “We must strive to transcend racial particularism and stress universality and commonality as Americans.” Loury seems to forget that black Americans have always considered themselves American but also recognized the difficulty in being perceived as a full American by the white community. The overall theme of his address was “The Case for Black Patriotism” From those who fought in every war since the Revolutionary war, black Americans have shed their blood for the sake of this nation. The black community does not need Glenn Loury to talk to them about patriotism. The black community despite violence, segregation and being denied their lawful rights have always sought to fully assimilate themselves in American society. They did not deem themselves as different. That was foisted upon them by the dominant culture including conservative icons such as William F. Buckley. Blacks did not introduce redlining nor did returning black WW II veterans deny themselves the benefits of the G.I Bill. Given the comments by some of the other attendees perhaps the good doctor’s call for patriotism was aimed at the wrong audience.
Dr. Loury’s statement about black people being handed competing narratives about the United States being between either a racist genocidal nation or a nation of equality and opportunity ignores the fact that America has shown characteristics of both. Dr. Loury should understand that when people talk about this dichotomy of conflicting realities it is not from a narrative passed on but from a lived experience. Whether the internment of Germans and Italians during World War I and Asians during World War II, prohibiting women to vote, the Trail of Tears, 400 years of slavery, decades of segregation, the Tuskegee experiments which extended to Guatemala or even the dropping of two bombs on Japan, the United States has a great yet dark history.
There is no doubt that Dr. Loury is an erudite man. He was once selected to be the undersecretary of education under Ronald Reagan until he had to withdraw due to charges of assault and being arrested twice for possession of cocaine. Dr. Loury does not operate from a position of ignorance or racial betrayal but of opportunity.
Whenever a speech is given it must be heard in context. That context has to include the theme of the conference in which it was given as well as the audience to whom the speech is given. It is a fair question to ask Dr. Loury who did he think he was speaking to and why did he think this was the most apropos subject for this audience.
It is interesting to note that despite the fact that the nation is only eleven months removed from an attempted insurrection, Dr. Loury had nothing to say. Despite that fact that the GOP is presently engaged in removing black election officials from Georgia and replacing them with white GOP officials who support Trump’s big lie, Loury was silent. At a conservative conference Loury had little to say about the lunacy of the GOP. Loury had nothing to say about the attempt to ban the reading of books referring to the KKK, Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King. The see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil aspect of his speech was quite apparent as it pertained to the present home of conservatism namely the GOP.
During the introductory part of his speech, Dr. Loury touted his bona fides as a legitimate black man by admitting to being a beneficiary of the civil rights movement and whose grandparents were slaves before he delved into the usual conservative tropes about the New York Times and the 1619 project. Dr. Loury stated his goal was to speak the truth and told the audience to brace themselves. Perhaps the audience thought they needed to brace themselves for a critique of their policies and actions but found themselves being in the presence of a man who berated his own community to the sound of great applause. His see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil quickly dissipated as began to talk about the black community.
Dr. Loury consistently complains about how blacks on the left side of the political equation seem to consistently speak of race. He seems to forget or ignore his own reality. His acceptance by the white conservative community is not simply due to his conservatism and perceived intellectualism but rather to his being a black conservative who is willing to take on the black political orthodoxy. His exuberant willingness to criticize the black community before white audiences is what endears the good doctor to the conservative world. There is nothing in Dr. Loury’s speeches or writings beyond his critique of black political orthodoxy that endears him to the conservative community. His blackness is what enabled him to reach the highest levels of the conservative movement.
The good doctor does make some points. There are people who engage in hyperbole when it comes to issues of race. It may be true that people on the left may lift up the issue of race too often but it’s also true that conservatives tend to deny racism too quickly.
One of the most interesting parts of his speech was when he spoke about the idea of white guilt, white privilege and possible reactions. He lays out a scenario in which a person burdened with white guilt might respond as follows. “Confronted by someone who constantly bludgeons me about the evils of colonialism, who urges me to tear down the statues of “dead white men,” who insists that I apologize for what my white forebears did to various “peoples of color” in years past, who demands that I settle my historical indebtedness via racial reparations, I well might begin to ask myself, were I one of these “white oppressors”: on exactly what foundations does human civilization in the twenty-first century stand? I might begin to enumerate the great works of philosophy, mathematics, and e science that ushered in the “Age of Enlightenment” that allowed modern medicine to exist, that gave rise to the core of what we human beings know about the origin of the species, and the origin of the universe. I might begin to tick off the great artistic achievements of European culture: the books, the paintings, the symphonies. And then, were I in a particularly agitated mood, I might even ask these “people of color” who think that they can simply bully me into a state of guilt-ridden self-loathing: “Where is ‘your’ civilization?”
Although Dr. Loury states he would never say this, he has seemingly with a wink and a nod given white conservatives a script to use as a retort to the left. He has given his conservative audience permission to live in what June Jordan calls “American’s habit of genteel make believe.” Dr. Loury is well aware that there has always been white backlash. From Reconstruction, the draft riots in NYC in the 19th century, to the burning down of black Wall Street. The backlash against black achievement and equality has been a constant in American life.
Dr. Loury was correct in his assertion that African-Americans have made great progress. That progress has been made through great struggle and sacrifice by millions of people who despite everything against them were determined to make it. Nonetheless, his comparison of African American wealth to that of Nigeria is a non sequitur. It might of made more sense to compare it to European wealth given his claim on European intellectual and cultural icons.
Dr. Loury who stated it is “important for people like me to speak the truth” seemed like he was campaigning to be anointed as the go to black for white conservatives to get their daily news about the black community.
As an ideology there is nothing inherently wrong with conservatism or liberalism. There is also no doubt that within both ideologies there is a cottage industry that is more about profit than integrity. Dr. Loury’s goal seems to be the profiting from the conservative side of the political equation not necessarily for monetary gain but renewed prominence.
It would be wrong to proclaim Dr. Loury as an enemy of the black community but it would just as hard to portray him as an ally. Dr. Loury is no Frederick Douglass nor does he engage in the buffoonery of Jesse Lee Peterson, Diamond and Silk, the bombast of a Larry Elder or even the moronic antics of an Allen West. Dr. Loury is an erudite man who has chosen to aim his “intellectual” ire at the black community. He has chosen as his audience those who would rejoice at the idea of a nation where blacks knew their place and stayed there. As an acknowledged beneficiary of the struggles of the civil rights movement, Dr. Loury could have been an interesting alternative voice for the black community. Instead the man, who once apologized to Rev. Jesse Jackson for his critique may now be more comfortable with Tucker Carlson, has chosen to carry the water of a segment of white conservatives who sincerely believe in their hearts that the black race is intellectually inferior. As a once bright light that has grown dim and increasingly irrelevant over the last four decades, Dr. Loury is perhaps trying to regain the relevance he once enjoyed in conservative circles during the 1980’s. It’s a shame he wants to do it at the expense of the black community.