The Color of Freedom

Reviews / Votes

"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