Color of Freedom

David Carroll Cochran is Associate Professor of Politics at Loras College.

"As an African American philosopher whose work is focused on racial matters, including reconsidering the viability of liberalism as a political philosophy for an ethnoracially diverse American democratic republic, I especially like Cochran's timely, thoughtful, insightful approach to autonomy as the key to (re)conceptualizing a form of liberalism that is respectful of ethnoracial cultural groups. Also noteworthy is Cochran's choosing to set his theorizing on a level much closer to practical concerns—the unfulfilled promises of liberal democratic life for African Americans, an ethnically complex racial group the cultural autonomy of which needs greater recognition and support—rather than attempting to produce an unimpeachable ideal theory." — Lucius Outlaw Jr., Boston College"The author attempts to find a solution for the persistence of white supremacy and racial domination in our liberal society without discarding the core liberal values. In this regard this is a unique perspective because either the black victims of liberalism call for rejection of its presuppositions or white advocates of liberalism attribute black failure to their pathological behavior patterns. I believe this work is the first attempt to expand the liberal paradigm to include racial justice as a core principle. For the author to engage the debate about racial justice using the liberal paradigm is a significant intellectual advancement in our society. I find the author's brilliance in attempting to graft on to the core liberal paradigm a notion of racial justice which challenges the supremacy of individualism as the central tenet of liberalism." — Cobie Kwasi Harris, San Jose State University

• Acknowledgments 1. Introduction Locating the ArgumentThe Argument's Outline 2. Color-Blind Liberalism The Features of Color-Blind LiberalismThe Sources of Color-Blind LiberalismFraming the Debate on RaceColor-Blind Liberalism and Freedom 3. The Limits of Color-Blind Liberalism The Strengths of Color-Blind LiberalismColor-Blind Liberalism and the LeftThe Limits of Color-Blind Liberalism 4. Liberal Autonomy Freedom and AutonomyThe Nature of AutonomyLiberalism, Autonomy, and Multiculturalism 5. Expanding the Liberal Understanding of Race ComplexityThe Continuing Importance of Color-Blind LiberalismMoving Beyond Color-Blind Liberalism 6. Public Policy Public Policy, Autonomy, and Black AmericansThe State, Civil Society, and Public PolicyConclusion Notes References Index