and then all of his other columns on william friedman, he didn't do that at all. he reversed himself. whitman is a little painful because he heard it and then he didn't. and why did he hear in one moment and then slipped into not hearing it in another moment? i couldn't say. you didn't ask about james this bottle answer him. he common on case because he was furious at william henry seward. james mccune smith very clearly recognized the racism in william henry stewart defense of freeman and he was absolutely furious at him for that. >> part of the excellence of this book, i'll say again, is a way in which you navigate the complicated entanglements of what it is to think about race and racial legacy and american culture. i said this to you, if one is building a classic trying to study that complexity, and if morrison's beloved is in there, baldwins fire, next time, all these books that ask any reader to figure out how do you witness and participate and find your place in the story, i think we could say that your book would be there. so i just want to congratulate yo

i want to really honor their courage in justifying in behalf of william friedman some of that that thatd some of them did not. and some of the members of the family and the community had difficulty hearing his challenge and for some of the same reasons the way people dead which was they were also part of an economic system. they were also in embedded in auburn for the reason was that of course with a will why did it frederick douglass not wise rise up against the beginnings of conflict labor pretty and really important answer is there was no way to know from the perspective especially the mid- 19th century, what it was going to turn into. there was no way to know and imagine mass racialized incarceration. and black people were disproportionately incarcerated in the state prison during freeman's lifetime but the actual numbers were small relatively small. and the more people were upset about it at the time there were people who look at that at the time but there was no way to imagine 150 years into the future, with mass racialized incarceration so that absence of clairvoyance of any base

the same way that repeal prohibition did 60 years ago, people from george shultz and milton friedman, william buckley on the right to the mayors of baltimore or in hartford, connecticut, and the aclu on the left and many other people in the middle from police chiefs to prosecutors to treatment, people it's also and it's primary, in fact, a framework of analysis. what legalization is in 1990 is an approach that says, let's look at current drug prohibition. let's see what are the costs? what are their benefits? let's those with the cost and benefits of other prohibition policies and other legalization policies and choose the policy is most successful. the conclusion come to is that a policy which emphasize these public health approaches and rights of individuals over criminal justice approaches is in all likelihood going to be the more successful policy. if that is what you mean by legalization with respect to a drug such as cocaine, emphasizing the public health approach, wouldn't that emphasis and the withdrawal all of to some degree criminal sanctions lead to a dramatic increase in cocaine o

william freeman objected to. then there's a second bill, which is called the fairness and opportunity act for a fair fairness and opportunity for incarcerated workers. and this bill addresses the second part of friedman's critique. freeman wanted not only to be not forced to work, he wanted an opportunity to build a life for himself. so when he wanted wages, he wanted not only wages, but everything that wages confer. he wanted economic stability, dignity, justice. he wanted self-definition as as a free man. his name itself. so this second bill addresses that part of freeman's challenge that he wanted dignity in his work. he wanted wages that could enable him to build a life. these two bills before the new york state are before the new york state legislature right now. and what they are doing is they are delivering william freeman's message into the 21st century. it is time to listen and to act. so i ask you to consider going to 13th forward is a wonderful organization that is leading the the the the charge to passhe two bills go 1h forward. find out how you can support these bills and together we can finally end forced labor in prisons in new york state. thank you. how are you? i'm great. thank you so

friedman. edward from dover, delaware, please go ahead. >> i want to mention two economist, eric williams wrotem and slavery and thomas sullivan, i'm reading his book called social justice fallacies. he seems to imply that people are poor because it is their fault. i want to ask, why are so many poor people in united states and why are there poor nations as far as capitalism is concerned? what is the relationship between capitalism and slavery? >> edward, would you say eric williams and tom soul have the same philosophy? >> that is an excellent question because i am a anti-, sole person because i am a african american and he is very conservative i'm relatively liberal. >> what you getting out of the book you are reading? >> some things i agree with what he is saying, when he says poor people it is their fault i cannot go along with that. >> thank you, sir for calling in. >> i am not familiar with the williams book but thomas soul i am familiar with. he was a student of milton friedman's at the university of chicago. he tells the story when he went to the university of chicago that is, sole, he

. >> guest: i'm not familiar with the williams book but thomas soul i'm very familiar with. he was a student of milton friedmanersity of chicago and he tells the story that when he went to the university of chicago, that is thomas soul, he was a marxist but after being around milton friedman and others in chicago for several years, he shifted to a more free-market view. i don't believe that it's the case that either thomas soul were milton friedman or rose friedman would say that the problem of poverty resides in poor people. i think what they would say is the problem resides in the system and that if you have a system that's more effective, then people experience less poverty, which they certainly supported. with respect to slavery, slavery is the exact antithesis of the free-market system because the free market system because the free market system in ten that every individual has freedom to exchange as they wish. it's the exchange and function, the ability to exchange as you wish. adam smith's idea the magic of the market and the idea for prizes to direct production in an effective manner that leads to gre