Reginald Jones has an unusual background for a spokesman for libertarianism: He's a singer and hip-hop entrepreneur.

As a young man in the South Bronx, Jones worked with rap artist Grand Master Flash, one of the pioneers of the hip hop movement. He parlayed that experience into a job at MCA/Universal Records, and in 1990 he formed his own entertainment company, The Reggitainment Group, which managed music acts.

In 1994, Jones made the leap to public speaking and politics when he joined Project 21, an African-American leadership group. In 1995, he got his first talk radio job on WTTM in Trenton, New Jersey.

Since then, Jones has hosted a show on National Empowerment Television, spoken on dozens of college campuses, and sat behind the microphone on the Radio America Network's "Generation Now."

If that's not enough, Jones also occasionally performs as a backup singer for George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic, and volunteers for Afri-Male, a New Jersey mentoring group for young black males.

Throughout all his endeavors, Jones has offered a simple message of empowerment for the black community: "Capitalism."

"That's the word that I want to hear from now on," he said. "Talk to me about free enterprise. Racism did not destroy our neighborhoods. Government did it."

Jones is also outspoken about his libertarian beliefs. "I am about freedom," he said. "Freedom to me is an absolute. We must hold onto freedom. It is precious."

Here are Jones' views...

* On government: "Governments were instituted for these reasons: to protect our life, our liberty, and our pursuit of property. Nothing else. Any time government gets into anything else, you have tyranny." -- Colorado Daily (March 14, 2000)

* On anti-gun laws: "One of the most racist laws in this country is gun control because the first laws on gun control were passed to disarm black citizens." -- The Fifth Annual New York Conference on Private Property Rights (2000)

* On education: "Public schools, which I actually refer to as government schools because that's what they really are, fail to educate our children." -- The Cowl (Providence College, April 11, 2002)

* On the War on Drugs: "The government, the first thing they can do is stop the War on Drugs. Blacks do less drugs than whites, but if you look at the federal prisons, they're overwhelmingly black. Now tell me that that's not racist." -- Colorado Daily (March 14, 2000)

                                                                                                                      -- Bill Winter

Quotable

"I am about freedom. Freedom to me is an absolute. Either you're free or you're a slave." -- Reginald Jones in The Alestle (Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Spring 1998)

Books & Tapes

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