Carving Out a Humanity: Race, Rights, and Redemption

by Janet Dewart Bell (Editor), Vincent M. Southerland (Editor), Charles Ogletree (Contributor)

The preeminent civil rights attorneys and scholars of the past quarter-century weigh in on some of the most controversial aspects of race and the law, published to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the prestigious Derrick Bell Lecture Series

Carving Out a Humanity gathers some of our country’s brightest progressive legal stars in a volume that illuminates the facets of the law that have continued to perpetuate racial inequality and to confound our nation at the start of a new millennium.

“To what extent does equal protection protect?” asks Ian Haney López in a penetrating analysis of the gaps that remain in our civil rights legal codes. President of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Sherrilyn Ifill describes the hypersegregation of our cities and the limits of the law’s ability to change deep-seated attitudes about race. Patricia Williams explores the legacy of slavery in the law’s current constructions of sanity. Anita Allen discusses competing privacy and accountability interests in the lives of African American celebrities. Chuck Lawrence interrogates the judicial backlash against affirmative action. And Michelle Alexander describes what caused her to break ranks with the civil rights community and take up the cause of those our legal system has labeled unworthy.

Originally delivered as Derrick Bell Lectures in a series at NYU School of Law, begun in 1995 and running up through 2019, Carving Out a Humanity offers an unprecedented array of today’s most creative and brilliant thinking on race and the law.

Genres: Nonfiction, Race, Law, History

368 pages, Hardcover

Published November 24, 2020

About the author

Janet Dewart Bell is a social justice activist with a doctorate in leadership and change from Antioch University. She founded the Derrick Bell Lecture on Race in American Society series at the New York University School of Law in honor of her late husband and is the author of Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement (The New Press). An award-winning television and radio producer, she lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Bakari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of lectures that contribute to CRT, but it is not necessarily a coherent introduction to CRT. Nevertheless, the contributors are well-established legal experts, lawyers, and contemporaries of Derrick Bell – one of, if not the leading, founding theorists of CRT

One of the clearest examples of what CRT explains is the passage of the Brown v. Board of Education case of 1954. Bell effectively theorized how "interest convergence" and the demands for racial desegregation and racial were the backdrop of the groundbreaking cases.

According to Bell, even limited racial justice can only occur when the interests of dominant whites are implicated. The court's decision was also motivated by a desire to improve America's reputation in the international arena, where the country was competing with the Soviet Union for influence in African and Asian countries.

Integration also provided a way for states to have more control over education, though it did not solve the problems integrationists expected it to. This would push Black children to schools run and controlled by whites.

Cheryl I. Harris's chapter, "From the West to Rest: Interest Convergence in California Racial Politics," further explains how racial issues are addressed based on how they benefit the dominant white culture. Harris argues that Proposition 200, Proposition 187, and Proposition 209 were all passed due to interest convergence, with Proposition 54 being blocked due to the dominant interest of controlling contamination.

Social scientists and psychologists argue in the Brown case that desegregation and integration were necessary to help White children unlearn the racism the larger culture had taught them. Ironically, in my view, I don't think that's been the case in so many parts of the country. School integration essentially harms and traumatizes African American children as white children grow to reproduce the bigotry of their parents, community, and the larger society.

Radicalized violence is still a significant issue, and CRT argues that racism and racist policies and structures will remain persistent until racism is no longer a tool for white privilege.

Despite the pushback and legislation to silence CRT, teachers, activists, students, and parents should arm themselves with knowledge of CRT and how racism forms the fabric of the institutions in this country. Those who understand the harm that White racism does must continue to speak truth to power because racism will continue to be pervasive in this country as long as Whites continue to hold power and protect their privilege.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of the lectures in the Derrick Bell lecture series (currently presented at the NYU school of law) from 1995 to 2020 on Critical Race Theory and the law. The late Derrick Bell is considered the pioneer of critical race theory and his theory of interest convergence or that that racism is in everything and change doesn't happen until it benefits the majority is discussed throughout this book. These lectures primarily by law professors focus on different aspects of race and the law and as with any lecture series some were better than others and some were more thought provoking and persuasive but overall this was an interesting book related to the current hot topic of Critical Race Theory. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through the Goodreads First Reads giveaways.

[Kenneth Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a series of lectures that were given by various people in honor of Derrick Bell. Bell was a lawyer and educator who spent his life fighting for civil rights. He taught at various law schools. After his death a lecture series was begun in his honor at NYU law school. The 24 lectures cover various aspects of civil rights and the condition of minorities in our society.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. The author really chose some interesting cases. This book kind of reminded me of Just Mercy.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep analysis that will get you thinking. I like reading different perspectives. This led me to a deeper understanding. Takes a while to read, but I highly recommend it.

[Roueida · Rating 5 out of 5]

An impressive and thought provoking series of 24 lectures that were presented between 1995 and 2019 at NYU Law School as part of the Derrick Bell Lectures addressing issues of race and inequality. It was interesting to see what was being focused on, in terms of race and social justice, over a span of 24 years and how these issues, sadly, have been relevant since the birth of America and are still very much relevant today. A noteworthy introduction to some of the sharpest minds on the topic of racism and the judicial system that serves to perpetuate and fortify this reality within American culture.