And We are Not Saved

In this expansion of a foreword to a 1985 issue of the Harvard Law Review on the Supreme Court, Harvard Law School professor Bell (Race, Racism and American Law, etc.) asserts that although racial equality has been legally affirmed, economic equality after initial gains is retrogressing despite affirmative action. Lack of enforcement of legislation is partly to blame, he maintains, as are problems concerned as much with social class as color, notably self-interest of a dominant white society. Discussing unresolved racial contradictions of the Constitution, still largely responsible, in Bell's view, for racist attitudes, he uses ingenious metaphorical tales to illustrate aspects of racial injustice that still obtain. He charges that whites have benefited more than blacks from civil-rights reforms, citing desegregation of schools and the 14th Amendment and other measures that extend constitutional coverage to all citizens. He suggests the formation of a coalition of disadvantaged blacks and whites, urging that entitlement standards include class as well as racial disadvantage.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bell, a professor of law at Harvard, addresses the problem of race in a novel way. Rather than using a dry "casebook" approach, he makes his point through fantasy. A mythical character, Geneva Crenshaw, reveals through ten "Celestial Chronicles" the painful "truth" about recent civil rights laws and court cases: They have, she (and Bell) argue, more clearly benefited the white majority than the black minority. Only through a recapturing of Tom Watson's dreamseeing race as a function of classcan meaningful change occur. Although the fantasy device unfortunately becomes stilted and strained, this provocative work is recommended for large public and university libraries. Anthony O. Edmonds, History Dept., Ball State Univ., Muncie, Ind.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.