BLACK CAPITALISM: Mostly an Empty Promise

When Richard Nixon first brandished the phrase "Black Capitalism" during the 1968 campaign, it captured the imaginations of blacks and whites alike.

There was something exhilarating in the idea that racial strife could be ended by helping blacks to get, in his words, "a piece of the action." As President, Nixon created an Office of Minority Business Enterprise to oversee Government efforts aimed at helping blacks and other racial minorities to start their own businesses, and expanded programs to lend more money to—and buy more products from—those striving firms.

Now, as the...