As the 2009-10 Derrick Bell Fellow at New York University (NYU) School of Law, I had the honor and privilege of working closely with Professor Derrick Bell to organize and teach his classes. From this experience, I have many cherished stories to tell about Professor Derrick Bell as a teacher, and this is one.
As one of the founders of Critical Race Theory (CRT), the late Professor Derrick Bell set into motion one of the most influential scholarly movements that the legal academy has seen. But while his impact on the academy was profound and undeniable, Professor Bell’s view of CRT went far beyond scholarship: it was a way of living one’s life. When asked what Critical Race Theory was, Professor Bell used to say half-jokingly: “I don’t know … [t]o me, it just means telling the truth, even in the face of criticism.” And while he had strong, well-defined views on many issues, Professor Bell also recognized that being “critical” meant analyzing all perspectives—particularly those that were marginalized in the mainstream discourse. He told his own version of truth, but as a teacher, he also recognized the validity of other perspectives.
The second part of Professor Bell’s quote on Critical Race Theory—“even in the face of criticism”—was even more important to him than “truth.” Professor Bell wrote a book entitled Confronting Authority, which he took quite seriously as a philosophy of life. He wanted students to confront his authority in the classroom—to sincerely tell their own version of the “truth,” even if it went against his views. On more than one occasion, I saw Professor Bell encourage conservative students to challenge him in class. Sometimes they did, and when progressive students criticized the conservative students in response, Professor Bell stood up for the latter, even if his own views were more in line with the former. Professor Bell said that he had the utmost respect for anyone who had the courage to stand up to authority, to go against the crowd, and to say what he or she believed. When Professor Bell was the authority that meant being “critical” of him. And just as he became a founding figure in CRT by confronting authority and by “just…telling the truth[,]” Professor Bell wanted his students to stand up to authority and tell their own truth, even in the wake of criticism, and even if he disagreed with them. It was not just about him telling his truth, but rather about everyone having the courage to tell their own truths.
For Professor Bell, CRT was as much a humanistic endeavor as it was a scholarly enterprise or a progressive activist movement. His scholarly works and his activism told his truth—which is well known to us as CRT. But his kindness to those who disagreed with him, his desire that they confront him, and that they too have their voices heard, were all just as important to Professor Derrick Bell, and were part of his Critical Race Theory.
For more of my stories about Professor Derrick Bell as a teacher, see:
Vinay Harpalani, “Gifted with Second-Sight”: Professor Derrick Bell the Teacher, in Covenant Keeper: Derrick Bell’s Enduring Education Legacy 17 (Gloria J. Ladson-Billings & William F. Tate eds. 2016).
Vinay Harpalani, From Roach Powder to Radical Humanism: Professor Derrick Bell’s“Critical” Constitutional Pedagogy, 36 Seattle U. L. Rev. xxiii (2013).