constitutional law

In this book, Bell makes the argument that racial reform will never happen in the United States. He explains his belief that every policy implemented by whites, even though it may seem to be in the interest of black advancement, is in all actuality an attempt to further white interests. One can see this in the correlation between Brown v. Board and the United States' attempts to put an end to communism. Brown v. Board took place during the Cold War and when communism was at its peak. America was fighting to put an end to communism, and other countries were looking at the U.S. and seeing the segregated facilities and thinking "why are they trying to instigate democracy when they don't even have a democratic government?" and thoughts similar to these. With the ruling of Brown, other countries looked at the U.S. more favorably and it justified our attempts to end communism. He also makes this very interesting argument that blacks have no right to complain about certain policies, because although a policy may have been enacted which benefited blacks, that policy wasn't geared toward blacks, it was geared towards whites. So in essence, whites are the only ones who have the right to complain (thus making whites look like prejudice pigs). Blacks are merely "fortuitous beneficiaries" of white policy.

Bell's arguments are certainly worth taking a look at, although at times he isn't very clear on his opinions and he has a very obvious bias. However, it's definitely worth a look.

This is a brilliant book, one that challenges many of the feel good myths surrounding Brown. The notion of unfulfilled hopes is crucial in an age when people no longer acknowledge the signficance of race. I would buy this book along with a copy of Thomas Shapiro's The Hidden Cost of Being African-American.