2022-09-01
59 分钟The controversial Harvard economist, recently back from a suspension, “broke a lot of glass early in my career,” he says. His research on school incentives and police brutality won him acclaim — but also enemies. Now he’s taking a hard look at corporate diversity programs. The common thread in his work? “I refuse to not tell the truth.”
In 2005, I wrote a piece for the New York Times magazine called a unified Theory of black America.
It was a profile of a young Harvard economist named Roland Fryer, whose journey to Harvard was beyond surprising, beyond unpredictable.
Given his background, it may have seemed impossible.
And yet, there he was.
A lot of things happened to get Fryer into the upper echelons of academia, and even more has happened since, much of it controversial.
How does Fryer describe his research agenda today?
Trying to make black America happier, wealthier, healthier, more educated.
That's all I've ever tried to do, and I refuse to lie to them.
So, Roland, it feels like most public discussions about race these days, at least the ones that I read in academia, in journalism, and elsewhere, do treat blackness as essentially a handicap.
What are the costs to that perception?
I mean, how much time you got?
We've got plenty of time.
Today on Freakonomics radio, a conversation with Roland Fryer about his research on policing.
I had a five hour meeting with Obama and other folks, and we got.
Zero done on education.
The thing that drives me nuts is that this woman's doing everything that she thinks is right.
We'll get his take on corporate diversity programs.
It made me sick in my stomach, man.
And we'll hear about Fryer's personal controversy, including a two year suspension by Harvard.
I broke a lot of glass early on in my career, and I don't think that was helpful, to be fair.