Reintroducing Derrick Bell into contemporary discourse: A review of ‘Racism and Resistance: Essays on Derrick Bell’s Racial Realism’
Abstract
Edited by Timothy J. Golden, “Racism and Resistance: Essays on Derrick Bell’s Racial Realism” presents a diverse set of perspectives from scholars in philosophy, law, theology, and rhetoric that critically engage with and expand upon Derrick Bell’s theories and scholarly works. This review approaches this work from outside the disciplines of its contributors and evaluates the volume for its accessibility, interdisciplinarity, and application of Bell’s theory of racial realism in contemporary discourses on racism and anti-racism. “Racism and Resistance” is divided into four parts, each containing two chapters. This review focuses on Part 1 – Racial Realism, Religion, and the Negro Problem and Part 4 – Racial Realism and Theology, as they are excellent examples of both the disciplinary range of this book and the authors’ command of Bell’s body of work.
1.Introduction
In “Racism and Resistance: Essays on Derrick Bell’s Racial Realism,” Timothy J. Golden and a selection of scholars in philosophy, law, theology, and rhetoric critically engage with and expand upon Derrick Bell’s theories and scholarly works. The theory at the center of this volume of essays is Bell’s concept of “racial realism”, which posits that that racism is not an anomaly of our legal, political, and social orders, but rather a foundational and enduring feature.
2.Brief focus on Bell and CRT
Bell did not suddenly or randomly land on the concept of racial realism. His educational path and professional endeavors led him to conclude in 1992 as a NYU visiting law professor that, “It is time we concede that a commitment to racial equality merely perpetuates our disempowerment. Rather, we need a mechanism to make life bearable in a society where blacks are a permanent, subordinate class. Our empowerment lies in recognizing that Racial Realism may open the gateway to attaining a more meaningful status.” (Bell, 1992, p. 377) Moreover, it is “Unhappily, [that] most black spokespersons and civil rights organizations remain committed to the ideology of racial equality. Acceptance of the Racial Realism concept would enable them to understand and respond to recurring aspects of our subordinate status. It would free them to think and plan within a context of reality rather than idealism.” (Bell, 1992, p. 377)
While Bell is often credited as one of the founders of critical race theory (CRT), some of Bell’s substantive contributions to CRT predate the coalesced identity of critical race theory. There are some who state the genesis of critical race theory dates to the work of the Institute of Social Research founded in the 1920s. Yet, most of those engaged in current CRT discourses consider critical legal studies (CLS), started in the late 1970’s, as the space where the seeds of CRT germinated. In turn, CRT discussions gained substantive momentum within CLS conferences in the late 1980s. (Dunbar, 2008)
Bell’s concept of Interest Convergence, for example, is considered to be a seminal tenet of CRT, yet, it was conceptualized parallel to the early days of CLS. Interest Convergence is the idea that “the interest of blacks in achieving racial equality will be accommodated only when it converges with the interests of whites.” (Bell, 1980). “The application of interest convergence has evolved beyond those of identifying as black and has further evolved beyond the limited application of race.” (Dunbar 2023, p. 369)
More relevant to the discussion within this book review is Bell’s concept of racial realism, which is another prequel contribution to CRT. Racial realism seems even more relevant when applied as a lens to view and assess the current social and political divisive discourses in many locations around the world. Perhaps even more relevant now than at any other time since it was conceived in the early 1990s. (Doval & Souroujon, 2022; Drolet & Williams, 2018; McAdams & Castrillón, 2022)
Ultimately many of those who were the activist legal scholars who generated the energy as well as the scholarly and community organizing that gave CRT life were both influenced and inspired by Bell. That statement remains true today. (Cobb, 2021)
Curry’s book forward frames the philosophical urgency of recovering (and applying) Bell’s work, by further shaping the relevance of this edited monograph as, “the first engaged reflection with Derrick Bell’s corpus as political theory.” (Golden, 2022, p. xiii) As such, the applicability of Bell’s work continues to expand to include not only legal and philosophical context but discussions of interest to historians and those working within information intensive environments.
3.The lens of this review
The authors of this review approached this volume not as a legal scholars, theologians, or philosophers, but from the perspective of public history, librarianship, and archival practice. While there are overlapping principles of analysis between all these disciplines, there are key differences in approaches to developing historical context. From this perspective, there was a, perhaps misguided, expectation to see the analysis of more primary historical sources. Despite this, the analyses present in this volume were easy to follow. The accessibility of the selected chapters for this review speak to the relevance and urgency of Bell’s work, and recalls the multi- and cross-disciplinary appeal and applicability of Critical Race Theory broadly. It also demonstrates the potential for further discussion and analysis of Bell’s work by more disciplines.
‘Racism and Resistance’ works to (re)introduce Derrick Bell’s work into the current discourses of the fields of philosophy, theology, law, and rhetoric. Timothy J. Golden’s introduction for this volume opens with historical and legal context which situates Bell’s argument of the permanence of racism in American law, politics, and social orders. Golden discusses the relevancy of Bell’s scholarship to our contemporary political and social landscape with great urgency. He discusses the failures and consequences of the presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump as well as the increasing hostility of America’s legal system and police force towards Black Americans. Golden also introduces an idea that will be reiterated and emphasized in most proceeding chapters: the hope to be found in the concept of racial realism.
This volume is divided into four parts each containing two chapters. This review will focus on the chapters of Part 1 – Racial Realism, Religion, and the Negro Problem and Part 4 – Racial Realism and Theology. These chapters are excellent examples of both the disciplinary range of this book and the authors’ command of Bell’s body of work.
4.Chapter analysis
Chapter 1 – The Last Decade of Derrick Bell’s Thought by George H. Taylor
The first chapter of this volume, written by George Taylor, continues from the introduction to further explore the foundations of Bell’s work. In his discussion of the course that he co-taught with Bell in 2006, Taylor highlights how the themes of religion, race, and the law intersect in Bell’s later works and argues the uniqueness and endurance of Bell’s contributions to Critical Race Theory. The chapter provides a portrait of the range and depth of Bell’s scholarship, his commitments to combating injustice, and reflections of his personal faith. It also sets the stage for how faith, theology, philosophy, and Christianity will be explored within Bell’s work and how those ideas connect with racism and with the fight for racial justice. Taylor establishes a sort of continuum between legal (and political) scholarship and theology, with philosophy as a connecting concept. There is discussion of faith generally in the first section of this chapter. This focus opens the subject to theologians outside of Christianity, but this volume does offer insights specifically from this faith.
Chapter 2 – Derrick Bell and the “Negro Problem” by Bill E. Lawson
Chapter 2 expands on the legal and historical context of racial realism. In conjunction with the introduction and Chapter 1, scholars unfamiliar with Bell and his work will have a solid understanding of his work, methodologies, references, and perspectives on scholarship. In this chapter, Bill E. Lawson specifically uses the historical and legal context of the ‘Negro Problem’ and how America has attempted to solve it. Ultimately, he concludes that the racist ideology that Black people are inherently inferior and only fit for forced labor combined with the lack of a solution to the ‘Negro Problem’ is at the heart of racism’s permanence in America. This essay is a good example of how while this volume is multi and cross disciplinary, it is not always interdisciplinary. From an historian’s perspective, there is an opportunity (in this chapter and others) for the use of historical methodology in support of the argument. While this chapter’s legal scholarship is robust, and legal scholarship and historical scholarship overlap in many ways, the use and analysis of primary sources outside of court documents as well as the incorporation of broader social, economic, and political contexts would have been a welcome addition.
Chapter 7 – Rethinking Hope: The Importance of Radical Racial Realism for Womanist Theological Thought by Kerri Day
Chapter 7 explores Christian theology and its connection to Bell’s scholarship. Written by Keri Day, this chapter builds from Bell’s argument on the permanence of racism to expand on traditional womanist eschatological visions of a world where injustice is eradicated. Day argues that through an application of racial realism, defiance to racism can be understood as a theological good in relation to hope. This chapter is particularly valuable to the volume, as it clearly dispels the notion that racial realism is an argument based in pessimism. Of all authors in this work, Day’s theological perspective embodies Bell’s activist vision. Her work speaks specifically to the person experiencing the permanent phenomenon of racism and how empowerment and hope can be found in a seemingly never-ending battle in the reclamation of black humanity. Other chapters in this volume surely discuss hope, but they don’t necessarily provide guidance in how to find it or access it within racial realism. This chapter also critically highlights intersectionality within anti-black racism in America with the attention Day brings to the ways in which gender and sexuality shape discrimination and inequality.
Chapter 8 – Liberalism, Christendom, and Narrative: Paradox and Indirect Communication in Derrick Bell and Søren Kierkegaard by Timothy J. Golden
Timothy J. Golden is the author of the eighth and final chapter of this volume. He argues that Bell’s use of fiction in his scholarship is an example of an ‘outgroup’ counter narrative that disrupts dominant, racist narratives. Building off of this, Golden employs Søren Kierkegaard’s concepts of ‘indirect communication’ and ‘passion’ to further argue that the paradoxes within racial realism are catalysts to perpetual, radical resistance to racism. The chapter positions Kierkegaard and Bell as two scholars with similar approaches to their moral grievances within Christianity and the American legal system respectively. In doing so, Golden squarely places Bell within the canon of philosophy and continues the theoretical and scholarly connection between theology and racial justice as seen in previous chapters of this volume. Though Golden incorporates a significant amount of philosophical concepts and references many figures from the field, he provides enough background context for the uninitiated to fully understand and follow his argument.
5.Closing thoughts
Some approaches found in this text focus on the idea of racial realism in the foundations of systems, in the persistence of racism, and in how individuals experience, interpret, and respond to racism. The trans- and intra-disciplinary nature of Bell’s work is celebrated in this volume and reflected in the range of scholars included. As core concepts and methodologies of CRT have been adopted by scholars across disciplines and geographies, so has Bell’s thesis of racial realism. This adaptability speaks to the endurance of not only the value of Bell’s scholarship, but also of racial oppression and its impacts.
While Golden and the other contributing authors of this volume wholly reject reactionary politics and affirm Bell’s thesis on the permanence of racism, they do not fully embrace a revolutionary ethos in this academic work. Rather, the rich and varied analyses of Derrick Bell’s work and methodologies are contributions to the beginnings of a conversation around proactive, hopeful academic engagement with race and racism.
References
[1] | Bell Jr., D.A. ((1980) ). Brown v. Board of Education and the interest-convergence dilemma. Harvard Law Review, 93: (3), 518. doi: 10.2307/1340546. |
[2] | Bell, D.A. ((1992) ). Racial realism. Connecticut Law Review, 24: (2), 363-380. |
[3] | Cobb, J. ((2021) , January 20). The Man behind Critical Race Theory. The New Yorker, Annals of Equality (Sept 20, 2021 Issue). https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/20/the-man-behind-critical-race-theory. |
[4] | Curry, T.J. ((2022) ). Forward – “He Reminds Us That”: The Philosophical Urgency of Recovering the Work of Derrick Bell. In T.J. Golden (Ed.), Racism and resistance: Essays on Derrick Bell’s racial realism, State University of New York Press, pp. ix-xviii. |
[5] | Doval, G.P., & Souroujon, G. ((2022) ). Global Resurgence of the Right: Conceptual and Regional Perspectives (1st ed.). Routledge. |
[6] | Drolet, J.-F., & Williams, M.C. ((2018) ). Radical conservatism and global order: International theory and the new right. International Theory, 10: (3), 285-313. Cambridge Core. doi: 10.1017/S175297191800012X. |
[7] | Dunbar, A.W. ((2008) ). Critical race information theory applying a CRITical race lens to information studies/by Anthony W. Dunbar. In Critical race information theory applying a CRITical race lens to information studies. Thesis (Ph. D.)–UCLA, 2008. |
[8] | Dunbar, A.W. ((2023) ). Every information context is a CRiTical Race information Theory opportunity: Informatic considerations for the information industrial complex. Digital Transformation and Society, 2: (4). doi: 10.1108/DTS-02-2023-0013. |
[9] | Golden, T.J. (Ed.). ((2022) ). Racism and resistance: Essays on Derrick Bell’s racial realism. State University of New York Press. |
[10] | McAdams, A.J., & Castrillón, A. ((2022) ). Contemporary far-right thinkers and the future of liberal democracy. Routledge. |
