Kathianne
10-26-2009, 06:16 PM
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704335904574496250622719022.html
n Defense of Carol Swain
A black scholar gets smeared as "an apologist for white supremacists."
By JAMES TARANTO
"Carol Swain is an apologist for white supremacists," Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center tells the Tennessean. Carol Swain is also a friend of this column. To our mind the charge seemed awfully far-fetched, so we decided to get to the bottom of it.
Swain, who is black, is a professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt University. She is an expert on white supremacists, having written a book on the subject, "The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration," which was published in 2002 by Cambridge University Press and drew plaudits from scholars both liberal (Harvard's William Julius Wilson) and conservative (Princeton's Robert P. George).
Readers may remember that we criticized Swain back in June for a comment she made to the Washington Post. She contacted us through Facebook and told us we had misunderstood her intent. We offered her an opportunity to respond, which she accepted. We became Facebook friends and started keeping up with her writings. While we don't always agree with her (on immigration, for instance, her views are closer to Lou Dobbs's than to ours), we've been impressed by her integrity and independence of mind....
n Defense of Carol Swain
A black scholar gets smeared as "an apologist for white supremacists."
By JAMES TARANTO
"Carol Swain is an apologist for white supremacists," Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center tells the Tennessean. Carol Swain is also a friend of this column. To our mind the charge seemed awfully far-fetched, so we decided to get to the bottom of it.
Swain, who is black, is a professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt University. She is an expert on white supremacists, having written a book on the subject, "The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration," which was published in 2002 by Cambridge University Press and drew plaudits from scholars both liberal (Harvard's William Julius Wilson) and conservative (Princeton's Robert P. George).
Readers may remember that we criticized Swain back in June for a comment she made to the Washington Post. She contacted us through Facebook and told us we had misunderstood her intent. We offered her an opportunity to respond, which she accepted. We became Facebook friends and started keeping up with her writings. While we don't always agree with her (on immigration, for instance, her views are closer to Lou Dobbs's than to ours), we've been impressed by her integrity and independence of mind....