“I’m black, I work for the Manhattan Institute, and I’m proud.”

As I’ve noted before in this blog, John McWhorter is one of my favorite writers, especially when he tackles race issues.  Indeed, I started reading and enjoying his books long before I realized that I was a conservative.  When I first read his take on race issues, McWhorter was still a linguistics professor at U.C. Bezerkley.  He’s since moved to the Manhattan Institute and has, apparently, lost his street credibility — or so the NY Times would have us believe.  Here’s McWhorter on the slings and arrows hurled his way because, while his views haven’t changed, his employer has:

Last Friday I opened the Times to be greeted by a photo of me illustrating a story arguing that conservative think tanks instruct their writers to shill for corporations that give them contributions. My sin was saying on a radio show a year ago (in passing amidst a discussion of several issues) that Wal-Mart provides jobs for lower-income black people. At least the photo was good — black don’t crack! However, the notion that the Manhattan Institute sits its writers down and instructs us to speak in favor of corporations that give us money is fiction.

Hat tip:  American Thinker