National Review ‘symposium’ on black unemployment has no black participants.

By Matt Corley

Yesterday, National Review Online (NRO) posted an article by the American Enterprise Institute’s Kevin Hassett arguing that the fact that the recession has been worse for minorities “suggests that discrimination may well still be a factor in the American labor market.” In response, NRO hosted an online “symposium” for “some economics and civil-rights analysts to share their thoughts on the topic.” Their conclusion was that “Discrimination is an insufficient explanation for black unemployment.” Oliver Willis notes that NRO did not include any black participants in the discussion:

The thing is, there’s no law or rule that only black people can talk about issues affecting black people, or the same for white, Latino, Asian people, etc.

But considering the way the conservative movement insists that it is diverse, they couldn’t find one black person for their symposium? Not one?

National Review’s Daniel Foster responded to Willis on Twitter, saying, “We don’t do quotas. But there’s this Thomas Sowell guy who writes for us a lot. Pretty sure he’s an economist.” Robert A. George, who has written for National Review, tweeted that the “forum should have had black cons. viewpoint.”

Update Courtesy of Gawker, a look at the National Review's experts on black unemployment: M.C.L Comment: Who's knows the black community better than upper class white conservatives?