[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 15068-15069]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING THE LIFE OF DERRICK A. BELL, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 7, 2011

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the life of civil 
rights legal scholar, Derrick Bell. As a respected attorney, scholar, 
war veteran and mentor, Mr. Bell lived his life believing that change 
only occurs when we take risks.
  Mr. Bell was a man of many firsts. A graduate of the University of 
Pittsburgh Law School, where he was the only black student, Mr. Bell 
would eventually become the first tenured black professor at Harvard 
Law School. He later became Dean of the University of Oregon School of 
Law, becoming the first African-American to ever head a non-black law 
school. His willingness to be a pioneer was a reflection of his 
unwillingness to exchange personal position for the core principle of 
pursuing equity for all.
  Mr. Bell's resolve to stand on principle was seen throughout his 
career. As a newly minted attorney in his 20s, selected to work at the 
Civil Rights Division of the United States Justice Department, Mr. Bell 
was told to relinquish his NAACP membership, which his superiors 
believed posed a conflict of interest. Mr. Bell, instead, did the 
opposite and quit the Justice Department. While perhaps a shock to 
some, Mr. Bell would ultimately resign as Dean at Oregon over a dispute 
about faculty diversity. In his 2002 memoir, ``Ethical Ambition,'' Mr. 
Bell recalled how his actions appeared to associates as ``futile and 
foolish.'' But he publicly declared the importance of living ``a life 
of meaning and worth.''
  Mr. Bell is perhaps best known for his tenure at Harvard Law School, 
which began in 1969 after protests by black students for a minority 
faculty member. While at Harvard, Bell established a new course in 
civil rights law, published a leading legal textbook, ``Race, Racism 
and American Law,'' and rejected the dry legal analytics, which 
dominated legal scholarship, in favor of allegorical stories and 
parables. In 1986, he orchestrated a five-day sit-in to protest the 
school's failure to grant tenure to two professors. Mr. Bell's 
challenge to the legal orthodoxy served as inspiration to Harvard Law 
students, and President Barack Obama compared him to civil rights hero 
Rosa Parks while attending a rally as a student at Harvard Law. Mr. 
Bell ultimately left the law school in 1990 over principle and 
concluded his career at NYU Law School. He summed up his actions in a 
speech to Harvard students, saying, ``Your faith in what you believe 
must be a living, working faith that draws you away from comfort and 
security, and toward risk through confrontation.'' Mr. Bell believed 
that it would be hypocritical to urge his students to defy what is 
unjust, while not practicing his own precepts.
  Largely credited as the originator of critical race theory, Mr. Bell 
explored the nuances that exist in race-relations. Known as a soft-
spoken gentleman, the professor unapologetically challenged 
conservatives and liberals, alike, on shared societal beliefs 
concerning race in America. While many viewed the 1954 desegregation 
decision in Brown v. Board of Education as monumental in the fight 
towards equality, Mr. Bell wrote that in light of the consequences of 
Brown, conditions for minorities might have worked out better if the 
court had instead ordered governments to provide both races with truly 
equivalent schools. Mr. Bell focused on motives just as much as 
outcomes, and while he generally supported litigation, he also 
cautioned that seemingly favorable rulings often yield disappointing 
results. His discourse prepared and empowered us to fight beyond court 
decisions and dig deeper into the implementation of policies which 
affect underrepresented communities.
  Mr. Bell will always be revered as a genuine, authentic champion in 
the struggle for civil rights. Robert Frost famously stated that ``Two 
roads diverged in a wood, and I--I took the one less traveled by, and 
that has made

[[Page 15069]]

all the difference.'' We are all honored that Derrick Bell took the 
road less traveled, for his contributions have truly inspired others to 
make a difference.

                          ____________________