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September 10, 2002

Being GOP Star Made Him a Cokehead

One of the bigger recent defections from the Right is Glenn Loury, one of the stars of the black conservative intellectual elite that came to prominence back in the 1980s. In this article, Loury admits that one of the lures of being a black conservative was the quick boost to his career and easy media attention:

"I know what my motives were," Loury says in retrospect. "Currying favor, ambition, the sense of exhilaration and excitement about what I'm doing now"...As a young black intellectual with impeccable credentials who dared to speak critically of his own race, Loury says he gave many conservatives what they wanted. In turn, Loury got noticed.

But this sellout to reactionaries took its personal toll, leading to a coke addiction and eventual arrest. Says Loury, "I was troubled by these feelings of, well, deep down I'm a hypocrite, right?" This period was followed by a religious conversion and his present commitment to write about the ongoing racism by whites, not just act as a GOP moutpiece for scolding the black poor.

Posted by Nathan at September 10, 2002 09:18 AM

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