From Booklist
Bell, the first tenured black professor at Harvard and a veteran civil rights lawyer, reflects critically on the function and limitation of the landmark Brown decision. He asserts that he, like many of his colleagues, confused the means of integration with the objectives of high-quality education and racial equality. To analyze racial reforms, he has developed a theory of converging interests into one of racial fortuity. For example, it was U.S. cold war interests that necessitated the elimination of legal segregation rather than purported concern with quality education for black children. In other words, when the interests of blacks converge with the interests of whites, blacks are more likely to have their needs addressed; otherwise they are not. Thus white resistance to busing and other integration strategies has reduced the Brown decision and its promise to mostly symbolic value. However, Bell admonishes blacks to not forgo their real interests even when they do not converge with the majority, and certainly prime among those interests is the educational development of black children. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Reverend Jesse L. Jackson
"Bell is one of our movement's giants, one of our true heroes."


Book Description
When the landmark Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education was handed down in 1954, many civil rights advocates believed that the decision finding public school segregation unconstitutional could become the Holy Grail of racial justice. Fifty years later, despite its legal irrelevance and the racially separate and educationally ineffective state of public schooling for most black children, Brown is still viewed by many as the perfect precedent. Derrick Bell here shatters this shining image of one of the Court's most celebrated rulings. He notes that, despite the onerous burdens of segregation, many black schools functioned well and racial bigotry had not rendered blacks a damaged race. Brown's recognition of racial injustice, without more, left racial barriers intact. Given what we now know about the pervasive nature of racism, the Court should have determined--for the first time--to rigorously enforce the "equal" component of the "separate but equal" standard. By striking it down, the Court intended both to improve the Nation's international image during the Cold War and offer blacks recognition that segregation was wrong. Instead, the Brown decision actually enraged and energized its opponents. It stirred confusion and conflict into the always vexing question of race in a society that, despite denials and a frustratingly flexible amnesia, owes much of its growth, development, and success, to the ability of those who dominate the society to use race to both control and exploit most people, black and white. Racial policy, Bell maintains, is made through silent covenants--unspoken convergences of interest and involuntary sacrifices of rights--that ensure that policies conform to priorities set by policy-makers. Blacks and whites are the fortuitous winners or losers in these unspoken agreements. The experience with Brown, Bell urges, should teach us that meaningful progress in the quest for racial justice requires more than the assertion of harms. Strategies must recognize and utilize the interest-convergence factors that strongly influence racial policy decisions. In Silent Covenants, Bell condenses more than four decades of thought and action into a powerful and eye-opening book.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When the landmark Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education was handed down in 1954, many civil rights advocates believed that the decision could become the Holy Grail of racial justice. Fifty years later, despite its legal irrelevance and the persistence of segregated and ineffective public schooling for most black children, Brown is still viewed by many as the perfect precedent. Derrick Bell here shatters this shining image of one of the Court's most celebrated rulings. What, Bell asks, if the Court had written a very different decision? What if "separate but equal" had been retained, rather than overturned? He notes that prior to Brown and despite the onerous burdens of segregation, many black schools functioned well and racial bigotry had not rendered blacks a damaged race. And while Brown recognized racial injustice, it left racial barriers intact. Given what we now know about the pervasive nature of racism, the Court might better have determined -- for the first time -- to rigorously enforce the "equal" component of the "separate but equal" standard.

By striking it down, the Court stirred confusion and conflict into the always vexing question of race in a society that owes much of its growth, development, and success to the exploitation of both blacks and whites. Racial policy, Bell maintains, is made through silent covenants -- unspoken convergences of interest and involuntary sacrifices of rights -- which ensure that policies conform to priorities set by powerful policymakers. Blacks and whites are at varying times the fortuitous winners or losers in these unspoken agreements. The experience with Brown, Bell urges, should teach us that meaningful progress in the quest for racial justice requires more than proof of even blatant discrimination. Rather, we must devise tactics, take actions, and even adopt stances that expose and challenge these silent covenants that serve to maintain the racial status quo. In Silent Covenants, Bell condenses more than four decades of thought and action into a powerful and eye-opening book.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

Bell, a former civil rights attorney, mixes provocative critical legal studies theory with personal reflections on his own journey—a descent into the harsh realities of the front lines of the school desegregation battles.—Christopher Benson

Publishers Weekly