Archived Columns From 2019

by Walter Williams

2019 January

The Worst Enemy of Black PeopleJanuary 02, 2019

Malcolm X was a Muslim minister and human rights activist. Born in 1925, he met his death at the hands of an assassin in 1965. Malcolm X was a courageous adv...

Black Education: A Glimmer of HopeJanuary 09, 2019

In reference to efforts to teach black children, the president of the St. Petersburg, Florida, chapter of the NAACP, Maria Scruggs, said: “The (school) distr...

Politics of ImmigrationJanuary 16, 2019

Here are a couple of easy immigration questions — answerable with a simple “yes” or “no” — we might ask any American of any political stripe: Does everyone i...

Who Benefits From Democratic Control?January 23, 2019

In 1976, Gerald Ford won 15 percent of the black vote. That’s the most of any recent Republican presidential candidate. In most elections, blacks give Democr...

Demonizing White MenJanuary 30, 2019

Rush Limbaugh’s December 2018 Limbaugh Letter has an article titled “Demonizing White Men.” It highlights — with actual quotations from people in the media, ...

2019 February

Is Reality Optional?February 06, 2019

Suppose I declare that I am a king. Should you be required to address me as “Your Majesty”? You say, “Williams, that’s lunacy! You can’t prove such nonsense....

Marijuana, Mental Illness and ViolenceFebruary 13, 2019

Ten states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Twenty-two other states, along with U.S. territories Puerto Rico and Guam,...

Plunder: An American Way of LifeFebruary 20, 2019

Frederic Bastiat, a French economist and member of the French National Assembly, lived from 1801 to 1850. He had great admiration for our country, except for...

Hate Crime Hoaxes: The Bad and the GoodFebruary 27, 2019

Jussie Smollett, “Empire” actor, claimed that on Jan. 29, two masked men identifying themselves as Donald Trump supporters and using racial and homophobic in...

2019 March

Our Planet Is Not FragileMarch 06, 2019

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims that “the world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.” The people at the Intergovernmental Pan...

Is Income Inequality Fair?March 13, 2019

Some Americans have much higher income and wealth than others. Former President Barack Obama explained, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough mon...

College Cheating ScandalMarch 19, 2019

Federal prosecutors have charged more than 50 people involved in cheating and bribery in order to get their children admitted to some of the nation’s most pr...

More University CorruptionMarch 27, 2019

Last week’s column discussed the highly publicized university corruption scheme wherein wealthy parents bought admission at prestigious universities for thei...

2019 April

Police Aren't EnoughApril 03, 2019

Sometimes, during my drive to work, I listen to Clarence Maurice Mitchell IV, host of the Baltimore’s WBAL C4 radio show. Mitchell was formerly a member of M...

Millennials for SocialismApril 10, 2019

If one needed evidence of the gross ignorance of millennials, and their teachers and college professors, it’s their solid support for socialism and socialist...

Some Things to PonderApril 17, 2019

There’s a push to change laws to permit both criminals serving time and ex-criminals the right to vote. Guess which party is pushing the most for these legal...

Justice Kavanaugh and GMU SnowflakesApril 24, 2019

George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School hired Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh to co-teach a course this summer called Creation of...

2019 May

Discrimination and DisparitiesMay 01, 2019

My longtime friend and colleague Dr. Thomas Sowell has just published a revised and enlarged edition of “Discrimination and Disparities.” It lays waste to my...

Discrimination and Disparities IIMay 08, 2019

Last week’s column discussed Dr. Thomas Sowell’s newest book “Discrimination and Disparities,” which is an enlarged and revised edition of an earlier version...

Higher Education in AmericaMay 14, 2019

Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics at Ohio University Richard Vedder’s new book, “Restoring the Promise,” published by the Independent Institute b...

Socialist PromisesMay 21, 2019

Presidential contenders are in a battle to out give one another. Senator Elizabeth Warren proposes a whopping $50,000 per student college loan forgiveness. S...

Slavery Is Neither Strange Nor PeculiarMay 29, 2019

The favorite leftist tool for the attack on our nation’s founding is that slavery was sanctioned. They argue that the founders disregarded the promises of ou...

2019 June

Colleges Committed to Ideological DiversityJune 05, 2019

When you send your youngster off to college, you might not mind that they will have to walk on eggshells, respect taboos, snitch on fellow students for polit...

How to Create ConflictJune 12, 2019

We are living in a time of increasing domestic tension. Some of it stems from the presidency of Donald Trump. Another part of it is various advocacy groups o...

Black Education DeclineJune 19, 2019

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says that the city’s specialized high schools have a diversity problem. He’s joined by New York City Schools Chancellor Richard...

Reparations for SlaveryJune 26, 2019

Several Democratic presidential hopefuls are calling for Americans to make reparations for slavery. On June 19, the House judiciary subcommittee on the const...

2019 July

Assault on Western CivilizationJuly 03, 2019

Western civilization was founded on a set of philosophies that focus strongly on the sanctity of individuals and their power of logic and reason. This belief...

Our Free Speech CrisisJuly 10, 2019

The First Amendment to our Constitution was proposed by the 1788 Virginia ratification convention during its narrow 89 to 79 vote to ratify the Constitution....

Things Haven't Always Been This WayJuly 17, 2019

Here’s a suggestion. How about setting up some high school rifle clubs? Students would bring their own rifles to school, store them with the team coach and, ...

What's Most Important?July 24, 2019

Let’s think about priorities. Say that you live in one of the dangerous high crime and poor schooling neighborhoods of cities like Chicago, Baltimore, Detroi...

Being a Racist Is Easy TodayJuly 31, 2019

Years ago, it was hard to be a racist. You had to be fitted for and spend money on a white gown and don a pointy hat. You celebrated racism by getting some b...

2019 August

Was Trump Right About Baltimore?August 07, 2019

Here’s what President Donald Trump tweeted about Baltimore’s congressman and his city: “Rep. Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming ...

How Important Is Today's Racial Discrimination?August 14, 2019

There is discrimination of all sorts, and that includes racial discrimination. Thus, it’s somewhat foolhardy to debate the existence of racial discrimination...

What Will They Learn at College?August 21, 2019

For many parents, August is a month of both pride and tears. Pride because their teenager is taking that big educational step and tears because for many it’s...

Beginning of US SlaveryAugust 28, 2019

The New York Times has begun a major initiative, the “1619 Project,” to observe the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to refram...

2019 September

Criminologists Mislead UsSeptember 04, 2019

John Paul Wright, professor at University of Cincinnati, and Matthew DeLisi professor at Iowa State University have penned a powerful article titled “What Cr...

Academic Stupidity and BrainwashingSeptember 10, 2019

Just when we thought colleges could not spout loonier ideas, we have a new one from American University. They hired a professor to teach other professors to ...

Racist Exam Questions?September 18, 2019

The U.S. Department of Justice has recently sued the Baltimore County government alleging that its written test for police officer recruits was unfairly bias...

Youth and IgnoranceSeptember 25, 2019

Camille Paglia is a professor of humanities and media studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where she has been a faculty member since 1984. ...

2019 October

Who Cares About You?October 02, 2019

During my student days at a UCLA economics department faculty/graduate student coffee hour in the 1960s, I was chatting with Professor Armen Alchian, probabl...

Idiotic Environmental PredictionsOctober 09, 2019

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has published a new paper, “Wrong Again: 50 Years of Failed Eco-pocalyptic Predictions.” Keep in mind that many of the g...

Intolerance in AcademiaOctober 16, 2019

If you need an accurate update on some of the madness at the nation’s institutions of higher learning, check out Minding the Campus, a nonprofit independent ...

US in Moral DeclineOctober 22, 2019

Last week, U.S. Attorney General William Barr told a University of Notre Dame Law School audience that attacks on religious liberty have contributed to a mor...

Gun Grabbers Misleading UsOctober 30, 2019

Gun control did not become politically acceptable until the Gun Control Act of 1968 signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The law’s primary focus w...

2019 November

Disproportionalities: Whose Fault?November 06, 2019

Jews have been awarded 40% of the Nobel Prizes in economics, 30% of those in medicine, 25% in physics, 20% in chemistry, 15% in literature and 10% of the Nob...

Young People Ignorant of HistoryNovember 13, 2019

A recent survey conducted by the Victims of Communism and polled by YouGov, a research and data firm, found that 70% of millennials are likely to vote social...

Scientists: Dishonest or Afraid?November 20, 2019

The absolute worst case of professional incompetence and dishonesty is in the area of climate science. Tony Heller has exposed some of the egregious dishones...

Who Are the Racists?November 27, 2019

Former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke said that racism in America is “foundational” and that people of color were under “mortal threat” from the “white...

2019 December

Fraud in Higher EducationDecember 04, 2019

This year’s education scandal saw parents shelling out megabucks to gain college admittance for their children. Federal prosecutors have charged more than 50...

Morality of Free MarketsDecember 11, 2019

Dr. Richard Ebeling, professor of economics at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, and my longtime friend and colleague, has written an impo...

Corrupting Our Social NormsDecember 18, 2019

Here are several questions for biologists and medical professionals: If a person is found to have XY chromosomes (heterogametic sex), does a designation as f...

Virginia's Second Amendment AttackDecember 25, 2019

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam apologized for his medical school blackface stunt, but he will have much more to apologize for if he signs into law a bill th...