Roland Fryer is the most gifted economist of his generation. Not the most gifted black economist of his generation, the most gifted economist of his generation. Period.
He was tenured at Harvard at the age of 30, he was awarded the American Economics Association’s John Bates Clark Medal, he received a MacArthur “Genius” grant, his publications appeared in some of the most distinguished journals in the field, and his scholarship was regularly covered in the mainstream media. His research upends many commonly held assumptions about race, discrimination, education, and police violence. It is tremendously creative, rigorous, and consequential scholarship, and it cannot be simply written off because it happens to challenge the status quo.
To do the kind of work Roland does, you have to be more than brilliant. You have to be fearless. And I cannot help suspect that now Roland is paying the price for pursuing the truth wherever it leads. Several years ago, he was accused of sexual harassment by a disgruntled ex-assistant. In my opinion and that of many others, those accusations are baseless. But Harvard has used them as a pretext to shut down Roland’s lab, to curtail his teaching, and to marginalize him within the institution.
I’ll not mince words. Those at Harvard responsible for this state of affairs should be utterly ashamed of themselves. They have unnecessarily, heedlessly tarnished the career of an historically great economist. Again, I can't help but suspect that they have effectively buried vital research not because it was poorly done but because they found the results to be politically inconvenient. “Veritas” indeed.
Now, I have been a friend and mentor to Roland for some time, and I’ve taken great pleasure in watching him succeed. I can see how one might view my criticisms of Harvard as biased. But this matter has been investigated by others with no personal stake in Roland's career who have found Harvard’s actions and reporting on them by the New York Times to be deeply flawed. I would point readers who want to know more to Stuart Taylor Jr.’s fine reporting for Real Clear Investigations.
Along the same lines, the filmmaker Rob Montz has made a short documentary about this subject. I’m interviewed in it alongside others who see this fiasco for what it is, some of whom have much to lose by publicly coming to Roland’s defense. People need to see this film. They need to know the truth about Roland Fryer. So I ask you to watch and to judge for yourself, and if you feel so moved, to share it as widely as possible.
Find out more at whocanceledroland.com
"Those at Harvard responsible for this state of affairs should be utterly ashamed of themselves."
I do not mean to contradict Prof Loury, but if there's one thing we've learned in the past 5-10 years it is that our elite class in academia, media, finance, govt, etc etc, have no shame, no dignity, no integrity, no principles (at least none they wouldn't exchange if needed), no larger sense of responsibility or obligation to anything but their status, money and careers.
Their only real belief is in their self-evident intellectual and moral superiority, which they believe gives them the divine right to rule unimpeded.
I hate to sound overheated, but we now live in a country where the professors denounce intellectual freedom, the journalists denounce free speech, and the leaders of all our cultural institutions denounce our culture and believe they have the right to dismantle all of it.
They may not quite yet be the Ancien Regime in 1789, but they're getting close.
I saw this documentary a few days ago when it was first released, and it is great. It displays the truth about how the race industry keeps people employed in politics, entertainment, business, and academia.
What Glenn Loury and John McWhorter speak against during their bi-weekly episodes is not just a narrative that's over a century old. Meaning white supremacy, and racial struggles for blacks. It's a business Glenn and John are up against. So when they reveal the truth, they are going up against the livelihoods of their opponents. That is the trouble that Roland Fryer got himself into.
I've spoken about my vendetta analogy countless times on this site. There will always be a group of black people who have a monolithic view of what it means to be black. They define themselves with a vendetta against whites because of past sins. They also hold a grudge against blacks who don't agree with them. And many of these people with a narrow mindset, are leaders in the fields I mentioned above. They profit from their vendetta at the expense of other black people.
But there will always be another gang of blacks who oppose the ones who still live like it's a hundred years ago. Both sides feud while the perception of the culture takes a huge hit.
War cost something. It's not for free. Rob Montz's documentary displays that black kids are paying the price. It's sad, but it is the reality we live in. As the war continues, people can save as many kids as possible through philanthropy and scholarship programs. But this feud within black culture will always continue.
I welcome anyone to reply.