Jason Riley is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and a commentator for Fox News. Riley’s forthcoming book, The Affirmative Action Myth: Why Blacks Don’t Need Racial Preferences to Succeed, will be released on May 6, 2025. After joining the Journal in 1994, he was named a senior editorial writer in 2000 and a member of the editorial board in 2005. Riley writes opinion pieces on politics, economics, education, immigration, and race. He’s also a frequent public speaker and provides commentary for television and radio news outlets.

Riley is the author of several other books, including Let Them In (2008), which argues for more legal immigration; Please Stop Helping Us (2014), which discusses the track record of government efforts to lift the black underclass; False Black Power? (2017), an assessment of why black political success has not translated into more economic advancement; Maverick, a biography of the economist Thomas Sowell (2021); and The Black Boom (2022), an analysis of black economic progress prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also narrated the 2021 documentary film, Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World.

Riley is a recipient of the 2018 Bradley Prize. He previously worked for USA Today and the Buffalo News and holds a B.A. in English from SUNY-Buffalo.

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