… is from page 347 of my late, great colleague Walter Williams’s 2015 book, American Contempt for Liberty, which is a collection of many of Walter’s columns and essays; this quotation specifically is from Walter’s May 12th, 2010, syndicated column, “Free Markets: Pro-Rich or Pro-Poor“:
The market is a friend in another unappreciated way. In poor black neighborhoods, one might see some nice clothing, some nice food, some nice cars but no nice schools. Why not at least some nice schools? Clothing, food and cars are distributed by the market mechanism while schools are distributed by the political mechanism.
DBx: Walter (1936-2020) was born on this date, March 31st, in Philadelphia 87 years ago.
This evening, colleagues, friends, and former students of Walter will gather for a few hours in northern Virginia to celebrate his life and legacy. The celebration will include the reading of a touching and eloquent newly written remembrance of Walter by his best friend, Thomas Sowell.