Jason Riley

I cannot believe you would make me audition for you.

Thanks for having me.

Well, it's complicated, Ben, because it starts out in the 1960s.

He's one of the youngest allies of Martin Luther King, and that's really how he got his start.

And then, of course, you have the years in which he ran for president, 1984 and 1988.

And he did inspire a lot of Black people to become more

politically engaged.

I was in high school in 1988, and I recall a lot of Black friends who volunteered for his campaign and so forth, and were very excited to see a viable Black presidential candidate.

But the reason his legacy is so complicated, Ben, is because

After that, he really turned to what I'd have to call racial hustling.

And that is his other legacy.

He began an organization that essentially went around shaking down businesses in particular, and Wall Street businesses especially, for money.

They would pay him to go away.

He would criticize them until they paid up.

And then he would go away and move on to the next company.

And he became a very wealthy man doing this over the years, over the decades.

And that, unfortunately, is one of his legacies.

And the reason it's unfortunate is because when one of the most prominent Black

people in the country is known as a shakedown artist.

It's not particularly helpful to other Blacks in terms of their image among other people in the country.