{"id":1383,"date":"2026-06-30T19:20:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/?p=1383"},"modified":"2026-06-30T19:40:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:40:27","slug":"if-i-were-a-leader-of-the-black-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/en\/2026\/06\/30\/if-i-were-a-leader-of-the-black-community\/","title":{"rendered":"If I were a Leader of the Black Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Block, W. (2026). If I were a Leader of the Black Community. Estudios Libertarios<\/em>, Vol. 5.<\/p>\n\n\n

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WALTER E. BLOCK*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Save as PDF<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I were a leader of the black community, I would preach a sermon of market fundamentalism. I would say to my flock, with Malcolm X, that you have been fooled, you have been bamboozled, you have been misled, you have been baffled, you have been tricked into thinking that socialism and government largesse would be the way toward prosperity and economic wellbeing. The very opposite is the case. The salvation of our community lies in the direction of libertarianism, free enterprise and capitalism. Specifically, and of top importance, we must keep the younger members of our community out of jail, where all too many of them are now languishing. To that end, we must call for a legalization of drugs, all of them without exception, an end to welfare and the repeal of the minimum wage law. We must bring the black father back into the household and overcome his banishment by the welfare system. We much not engage in Balkanization. We must not fear to \u201cact white.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keywords:<\/strong> Drugs; Welfare; Bourgeois values; Crime; Acting white<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JEL codes:<\/strong> Z0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Receipt date: <\/strong>January 30, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acceptance date:<\/strong> April 18, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    \n
  1. Crime<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    All too many African Americans are now in jail. We comprise only some 13% of the overall population, and yet account for almost 50% of the inmates in prison. The actual figure is 38.6% (as of December 2, 2023) (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2023a). In other words, we are triply overrepresented. Matters are even worse when we focus on prisoners who are serving life sentences or life without parole. Then, the figure rises to 48%, or almost quadruple the rate of our proportion of the population (Prison Policy Initiative, 2026). The NAACP (2020) goes so far as to claim that there is a quintuple disproportionate incarceration rate. It would not surprise me if this were true. This is a crime[1]<\/a> and a disgrace. This is a horror. This is just about the worst tragedy facing our community. That is why I mention this issue first and foremost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What then, accounts for these horrid statistics? Do not sit there and tell me this has anything much to do with police racism. These numbers are too outrageously out of all proportion for this to explain more than a tiny bit of the disparity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sowell (2016) refutes this nonsense as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cOne of the most popular arguments used in many different contexts is to show that blacks have been disproportionately represented among people stopped by police, arrested or imprisoned…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cAlthough many people regard these \u2018disparate impact\u2019 statistics as evidence, or virtually proof, of racial discrimination, suppose that I should tell you that black basketball players are penalized by NBA referees out of all proportion to the 13 percent that blacks are in the American population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “\u2019Wait a minute!\u2019 you might respond. \u2018Blacks are more than just 13 percent of the players in the NBA.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cBlack basketball players are several times more numerous than 13 percent of all NBA players. This is especially so among the star players, who are more likely to be on the floor, rather than sitting on the bench. And players on the floor most are the ones most likely to get penalized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe difference between the percentage of blacks in the general population and the percentage of blacks in the particular activity being discussed is the key to the fraudulent use of \u2018disparate impact\u2019 statistics in many other contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cHillary Clinton, for example, decried a \u2018disgrace of a criminal-justice system that incarcerates so many more African-Americans proportionately than whites.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe most reliable crime statistics are statistics on murders, 52 percent of which were committed by blacks over the period from 1976 to 2005. If blacks are convicted of far more than 13 percent of all murders, does that mean that racism in the courts must be the reason?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Instead, consider:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2.<\/strong> Drug prohibition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    During the prohibition of alcohol, it was Italian Americans who played an important role in bringing these products to the market, thus satisfying customers. They paid for doing these good deeds with time in the pokey. Now, it would appear, it is the turn of my fellow African Americans to become mired in this trap.  Almost half of all prisoners have been caught up in the tender mercies of the drug laws (the actual figure is 44.4% as of December 9, 2023) (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2023b). That means, if these pernicious laws which imprison adults for imbibing whatever substances they wish into their own bodies had never been enacted, almost half of my black brothers (very few sisters) would be free now. Let My People Go! Repeal these vicious laws!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Does this mean I favor the use of cocaine, heroin, and other addictive substances for anyone, black or white? Of course not. But there is all the world of difference between putting people in jail for a victimless crime, and favoring the use of these drugs.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Welfare<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This wicked system broke up the black family. It pretty much banished the black father from taking on his traditional role as head of the household. Nowadays, some three quarters of African-American children are being brought up without benefit of their dads nearby. Fathers are crucial for civilizing children, particularly boys. Mothers in single-headed families have difficulty in dealing with male teens. A significant element of black criminality, and subsequent incarceration, is due to the lack of adult males in the family and their supervision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Yes, slavery broke up the black family, but only for its duration. It was like tossing the proverbial frog into boiling water. Its metabolism is such that it jumps right out. Welfare, in sharp contrast, is like tossing this creature into cold water and slowly heating it up. The frog succumbs. In the aftermath of slavery, husbands and wives got together. From 1870 to the mid-1930s, the number of children living in two parent families for whites and black was constant; the former was only slightly better than the latter in this regard. It seems difficult, then, to attribute this malady to the results of slavery, which ended in 1865. The black rate after the 1930s dipped below that for whites, and then even more sharply in 1965.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Then what happened? How can we account for this subsequent severe drop? What happened was that Lyndon Baines Johnson\u2019s \u201cGreat Society\u201d attacked our community. It made an unmarried pregnant girl and offer she \u201ccouldn\u2019t refuse.\u201d It stuffed more money and services down her throat, way more, than could be provided by the father of her child. It broke up the white family too, both here and in Sweden, but blacks were poorer than whites, and hence more vulnerable to this financial siren song. Welfare is insidious. It ought to be banned, forthwith.  Read Charles Murray, yes, that Charles Murray (1984), on this matter in his book \u201cLosing Ground\u201d for more details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4.<\/strong> The minimum wage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is an unemployment law. It does not lead to anyone being hired at a higher wage, at least not in equilibrium. It stipulates that no one can be employed unless his productivity is greater than the level mandated by this law. If someone\u2019s productivity is $10 per hour, and the law requires that a wage of $15 must be paid, this person is plain and simple unemployable. Period.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Before the advent of this law in the late 1930s, the unemployment rate of whites and blacks was about the same. The joblessness rate for teens and adults, likewise, was similar. At present, the unemployment rate of blacks is double that of whites; the rate for teens is double that of adults. Hence, the number of black teenagers who cannot find an employer is quadruple that of adult whites who are so afflicted (U.S. Bureau of Labor, 2026). When a black teen cannot be employed, he is more vulnerable to a life of crime. I have said that the number one challenge facing our community is prison. Thus, I call for the total elimination of the minimum wage law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Enough on crime. Are there no other difficulties in our community? Yes, there are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    5. Defund the police?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Please don\u2019t make me sick. The rate of black-on-black crime is astounding and horrendous (Epps, 2022). There are black policemen, along with others of all races, who give their very lives to stop this rampant racially internal criminality. What are you going to do the next time you need protection from marauders? Call upon a social worker? No, the men in blue are not perfect. They are human beings. But to call for their elimination or even diminution without any replacement (private police)[5]<\/a> is totally unconscionable and counterproductive (MacDonald 2010; 2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    6. University<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cAffirmative\u201d action must be ended. This is a snare and a delusion. Placing a black youngster at a college where his classmates are far better prepared to do the work is no favor to him. Instead of majoring in physics, math, economics or other such taxing field of study, where he could do quite well in one of our major state colleges, or in a historically black university, he gravitates to black studies, or sociology, instead. There, he learns Marxism. That is no way to get ahead. So, banning black studies should be our goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As an interim measure, Rome cannot be built in a day, at least let us advocate, that some of our own best scholars be mentioned in courses of that sort, not only Marxists. For example, James Ahiakpor, George Ayittey, Richard B. Boddie, Hugh Coleman, Larry Elder, Glenn Loury, Lipton Matthews, John McWorter, Jason Riley, Tavis Smiley, Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Virgil Storr, Clarence Thomas<\/em>, Armstrong Williams, Walter Williams.[6]<\/a> Yes, there is such a thing as academic freedom, which must be respected. However, if scholars of this sort were hired in the first place, our students would then be able to hear and read at least a sliver of the free market philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One of the least appreciated effects of so-called \u201caffirmative action\u201d is that black students need not study too hard; it would presumably be racist to fail any of them. So, instead, they become involved in all sorts of issues irrelevant to education. For example, demanding separate graduations, separate dorms, separate studies (black \u201cstudies\u201d), separate spaces on campus. At this rate, they will soon be calling for separate toilets and drinking fountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, I applaud the courage it took them for these initiatives. Maybe this will hasten the end of affirmative action given the loopholes in the recent Supreme Court decision on this matter and the determination of do-gooding \u201cprogressive\u201d administrators to cleave to this anti-black program. After all, if blacks are on campus in part so that students of different races can intermingle, and blacks refuse to do so on the basis of these segregationist demands of theirs, this will tend to weaken evil affirmative action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There is no \u201caffirmative action\u201d in operation for the National Football League, nor the National Basketball Association. Both are heavily dominated by superb black athletes. What of the very few white professional players in these leagues. They are there, too, because of merit, not skin color. Imagine if matters were different. If such pros were allowed into these leagues not because of their ability to shoot baskets or carry around a football, but due to their skin color. That would be humiliating for them. Well, the same applies in academia to those victimized by this program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sowell (1994, 232) calls these attempts on the part of blacks to separate themselves from the larger community \u201cBalkanization.\u201d This is what he has to say about such attempts. He mentions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201c\u2026 the grim implications for organized attempts to Balkanize societies in the name of cultural \u2018identity\u2019 or of \u2018multiculturalism,\u2019 as in the late twentieth-century America, Britain, Canada or Australia for example. Quite aside from ideological hidden agendas behind these efforts, the organized government-subsidized cultural fragmentation of a nation artificially recreate the effects of natural geographic barriers which have constricted the cultural universe for so many peoples,with such traffic results, in various parts of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here is Sowell\u2019s (1994, 238) brilliant attempt to explain the economic backwardness of sub-Saharan Africa due to this \u201cBalkanization,\u201d unfortunately supported by all too many black spokesmen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cAlthough Africans are less than 10 percent of the human race, their many languages are on-third of all the languages in the world, one index of their cultural fragmentation. The great number of languages and dialects in Africa, besides being a symptom of this cultural fragmentation, constitute as well a severe handicap in themselves, inhibiting effective economics or political consolidation of numerous separate peoples.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The same applies to misconstrued initiatives in the black community to \u201cbuy black\u201d or to in a myriad of other ways support black owned businesses. No. Like everyone else, African Americans should patronize retailers who offer the best bargains, whether they be white, black or polka-dotted chartreuse people from Mars (Tate and Block, 2022). Malcolm X was guilty of this particular type of fragmentation with his Shabazz stores.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    7.<\/strong> Acting white<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On college campuses throughout the land, black students are reviled, excoriated, teased, denigrated, for \u201cacting white.\u201d All too often what is being loathed is studying hard, staying out of trouble, attending gatherings on time, and engaging in other productive and civilized behavior. This is a grotesque mistake. It holds back the future of the black community when our students are disparaged for being scholarly. Thomas Sowell has warned against this sort of \u201cBalkanization,\u201d separating people from the wider culture. Of course, he himself is commonly denounced for being an \u201cUncle Tom\u201d or an \u201cOreo Cookie\u201d by left wing black leaders who have long been leading their people down that proverbial socialist garden path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    8. Tokenism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The idea that the word \u201cblack\u201d when referring to people, should be capitalized, is only symbolic. When coupled with the demand that \u201cwhite\u201d when referring to persons, should not be capitalized, it is just plain silly; even demeaning. I cannot be sure about this, but I suspect this idea emanate from black \u201cstudies\u201d departments at major universities.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    9. Black poverty and systemic racism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    States Lau (2023) \u201cOn the notion that the United States is a systemically racist or white supremacist society, Sowell notes that the median incomes of Americans of Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Korean ancestry are higher than those of white Americans. Citing a 2019 U.S. Census Bureau survey, he points out that \u2018among full-time, year-round male workers, Asian Indian males earned over $39,000 a year more than white male full-time, year-round workers\u2019 \u2014 an unlikely outcome if white supremacy were pervasive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Is there \u201csystemic racism\u201d on the part of blacks vis a vis whites and Orientals that the former so heavily dominate the make-up of the National Basketball Association? Of course not. The very idea is ludicrous. Yet, a similar \u201clogic\u201d is employed by those who deduce from the fact that blacks suffer more from poverty than whites, that this is due to \u201csystemic racism\u201d on the part of whites. It does not even begin to account for the fact that when it comes to impoverishment, whites do more poorly than these other Asian groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Continues Lau (2023) in this vein: \u201c\u2026 as Sowell explains, the poverty rate of Black married-couple families is consistently below the national poverty rate. \u2018If black family poverty is caused by \u2018systemic racism,\u2019\u201d\u2019 he asks, \u2018do racists make an exception for blacks who are married?\u2019\u201d\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This constitutes yet one more indictment of a welfare system that has contributed not so much to the breakup of the black family, but as a causal element in its failure to form in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    10.<\/strong> Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      I am the present author, but I am not a black person. Some critics will say that only African-Americans may properly address the problems faced by the black community. For anyone else to do so reeks of colonialism, of chutspa, of condescension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      That is a profoundly racist and unscientific perspective. It also commits the ad hominem fallacy. The test of whether it is legitimate for non-African Americans to engage in such analyses is whether or not these points will be of help, or not, to African-Americans. That simply has nothing to do with the racial makeup of the author. Its only proper test is one of truth. Are these good suggestions or not? Will they work? If implemented, will they help improve the lot of black people or not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Are white doctors not to be allowed to have black patients? Are white dentists to be forbidden to deal with dental health for African Americans. Is it illicit for white psychotherapists not to analyze troubled black people? If this is all nonsense, and it is, then so is opposition to a white economist attempting to improve the lot of the black community. In a civilized society, we all help each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      Lingenfelter, J., Dominguez, J., Garcia, L., Mayon, B., & Block, W. (2017). Closing the gap: Why minimum wage laws disproportionately harm African Americans. Economics, Management, and Financial Markets, 12<\/em>(1), 11\u201324.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      McMaken, R. (2017, July 17). Even partial drug legalization goes a long way in protecting property rights<\/em>. Mises Institute. https:\/\/mises.org\/wire\/even-partial-drug-legalization-goes-long-way-protecting-property-rights<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      \n\n\n\n

      [1]<\/a> In a very different sense<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [2]<\/a> For the case in favor of drug legalization, see Anderson, 2002; Block, 1993, 1996, 2007A, 2007B, 2007C, 2016; Block, Wingfield and Whitehead, 2003; Calton, 2019; Cussen and Block, 2000; Friedman, 1992; Futerman and Block, 2021; Hanke and Walters, 2016; McMaken, 2016, 2017; Obioha and Block, 2012; Szasz, 1985, 1992; Thornton, 1991, 2020; Vance, 2012; Vuk, 2008; Whalin and Block, 2017; Wilson, 1999<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [3]<\/a> See Stone, 2020, especially figure 2. See also Geary, 2015; Wilson, 2002<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [4]<\/a> States Becker (1995) on this matter: \u201cIt’s simple: Hike the minimum wage, and you put people out of work\u201d ; according to Friedman (undated): \u201cA minimum-wage law is, in reality, a law that makes it illegal for an employer to hire a person with limited skills\u201d; in the view of Sowell (1995) this law is akin to “Repealing the Law of Gravity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      For more in this vein, see Batemarco, et.al. 2014; Block, 2001; Burkhauser, Couch, Wittenburg, 1996; Cappelli and Block, 2012; Deere, Murphy and Welch, 1995; Gallaway and Adie, 1995; Galles, 2014; Gitis, 2014; Hamermesh and Welch, 1995; Hanke, 2014A, 2014B; Hazlitt, 1946; Hovenga, Naik and Block, 2013; Howland, 2013; Klein and Dompe, 2007; Leef, 2021; Lingenfelter, et. Al., 2017; McCormick and Block, 2000; Mincer, 1976; Neumark, 2015; Neumark and Wascher, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2000; North, 2014; Powell, 2013; Reisman, 2014; Rothbard, 1988; Rustici, 1985; Vuk, 2006; Williams, 1982<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [5]<\/a> For the case in favor of privatization of the police, see Bayley and Shearing, 1996; Evans, 2011; Guillory, & Tinsley. 2009; Hoppe, 2011; Huebert, 2010; Murphy, 2005; Nalla and Newman, 1991; Rothbard, 1973, 1975, 1998 [1982]; Shearing and Stenning, 1988; Swol, Karen. 1997; Stringham, 2007;  Tannehills[1970] 1984; Tinsley, 1998-1999; Wi\u015bniewski, 2014; Wollstein, 1969; Woolridge, 1970.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [6]<\/a> I have herein placed these important scholars in alphabetical order, but truth to tell, Prof. Sowell stands head and shoulders above all the rest in my humble opinion. That he has not yet won the Nobel Prize in economics besmirches that award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [7]<\/a> https:\/\/bit.ly\/4eQLMgp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [8]<\/a> For a sensible treatment of this silly initiative, see Appiah, 2020. For other views on this matter, including many sill ones, see https:\/\/bit.ly\/4wp0u5v<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [9]<\/a> Notice, however, that Lau capitalizes \u201cblack\u201d while Sowell does not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      *<\/a>  Walter E. Block holds a Ph.D. in economics (Columbia University). He currently is the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Economics at Loyola University New Orleans. E-mail: wblock@loyno.edu<\/a>. https:\/\/walterblock.substack.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Block, W. (2026). If I were a Leader of the Black Community. Estudios Libertarios, Vol. 5. WALTER E. BLOCK* Abstract If I were a leader of the black community, I would preach a sermon of market fundamentalism. I would say to my flock, with Malcolm X, that you have been fooled, you have been bamboozled, you… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vol-5"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["es","en"],"languages":{"es":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1383"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1400,"href":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383\/revisions\/1400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estudioslibertarios.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}