And We Are Not Saved: The Elusive Quest for Racial Justice
by Derrick Bell
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A distinguished legal scholar and civil rights activist employs a series of dramatic fables and dialogues to probe the foundations of America's racial attitudes and raise disturbing questions about the nature of our society.Tags
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Member Reviews
Bell uses an interesting way to frame the race issues the US has been struggling with ...well, for as long as it has been a country. Lots of facts (and cases) cited, but within a frame of "chronicles" so as to be engaging rather than dry reading.
My main "issue" with it is that it's a bit (read: a very lot) depressing to think about, particularly because in the end it offers no real solution - which is not the fault of the author, but of the subject. Sadly, there is no viable solution other than for folks to simply keep trying to strive for equality. But reading defenses with cases cited as "proof" for why scenarios that ought to offer up a viable path to change, wouldn't... it's just kind of crushing. Especially with it now having been show more about 30 years since this book was written, and nothing has changed. If anything, things may even be regressing. With still no viable solution presenting itself.
Overall, even with a few bits & pieces being a little dated, the actual content is still completely relevant (and the dated bits are just old numbers, so they still matter, it's just that it'd be nice to see what the comparison is for present day), so, still recommended for those interested in race issues in the US. show less
My main "issue" with it is that it's a bit (read: a very lot) depressing to think about, particularly because in the end it offers no real solution - which is not the fault of the author, but of the subject. Sadly, there is no viable solution other than for folks to simply keep trying to strive for equality. But reading defenses with cases cited as "proof" for why scenarios that ought to offer up a viable path to change, wouldn't... it's just kind of crushing. Especially with it now having been show more about 30 years since this book was written, and nothing has changed. If anything, things may even be regressing. With still no viable solution presenting itself.
Overall, even with a few bits & pieces being a little dated, the actual content is still completely relevant (and the dated bits are just old numbers, so they still matter, it's just that it'd be nice to see what the comparison is for present day), so, still recommended for those interested in race issues in the US. show less
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Author Information
24+ Works 1,294 Members
Derrick Bell (1930-2011) was a civil rights attorney, pioneering legal scholar, professor, and political activist. A full-time visiting professor at New York University Law School for over two decades, he was previously the first tenured African American professor on the faculty of Harvard Law School and the first African American dean of the show more University of Oregon School of Law. He is also the author of And We Are Not Saved and several other books. show less
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- And We Are Not Saved: The Elusive Quest for Racial Justice
- Original publication date
- 1987
- Important events
- African-American Civil Rights Movement; Black Power Movement
- Epigraph
- The harvest is past, the sumer is ended, and we are not saved. —Jeremiah 8:20
- Dedication
- To Ada Elisabeth Bell, my mother; to Jewel Hairston Bell, my wife; and to all our Genevas
- First words
- Jeremiah's lament that "we are not saved" echoes down through the ages and gives appropriate voice to present concerns of those who, flushed with the enthusiasm generated by the Supreme Court's 1954 holding that segregated pu... (show all)blic schools are unconstitutional, pledged publicly that the progeny of America's slaves would be "Free by 1963," the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 209
- Popularity
- 155,822
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.20)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 1
