ANN ALTHOUSE ON THE EMORY LAW JOURNAL’S POLITICAL-CENSORSHIP SCANDAL: There is a major controversy brewing over free speech and censorship at Emory Law Journal.

It’s the essay form. It’s not chock full of citations. Alexander could easily come up with things to cite, but he’s making his own personal statement. He puts his name on it, and that’s that. Fight with him if you don’t like it.

If people don’t want to fight with him, they seem to underscore his point — that everyone knows but they just won’t admit it! The editors are coming down on the side of less speech: Don’t say the thing we don’t want to have to talk about. It’s hurtful.

Unfortunately, that makes it seem as though you’re conceding that you’re in Alexander’s “everyone” category.

Here’s the statement in question:

In general, blacks as a group are doing better than ever before materially. And for those who are not doing well, the cause is not the effects of slavery or Jim Crow. Nor is the cause racist bigotry, which, though some undoubtedly exists, is not a significant obstacle in blacks’ lives. Nor is it the vague culprit of “systemic racism.”

Racism is not the cause of black poverty to the extent it exists. (If it were, African and West Indian blacks would not be doing as well as they are, or emigrating to the U.S. in great numbers.) Although racism could be a problem for blacks today, the reality is, thankfully, is that it isn’t.

The real impediment to the advancement of poor blacks – and everyone knows this, regardless of whether they admit it – is the cultural factors that have produced family disintegration, which in turn portends poor educational achievement, crime and poverty.

He’s not wrong. (Emphasis from Althouse).

More on this growing scandal here.