Product Description

Imagine America on the first day of the 21st century. At the break of dawn, a thousand space ships descend from the sky, landing on the shores of the East Coast, bearing treasures of gold, safe nuclear power and detoxifying agents that could pay all debts and save the earth's environment. In exchange for these goods, guaranteed to rescue America from the excesses of its past, the Space Traders want just one thing -- to take all African Americans back to their home star.

What would our leaders do? White Americans were once capable of rationalizing Black slavery; would they be capable of justifying the trade of all African Americans to space, to improve their own lot on earth?

The situation is a chilling fantasy. But for Derrick Bell, the prominent civil rights activist and former Harvard Law School Professor, the danger is very real. In Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism, Bell uses allegory and historical example to argue that racism has always been an integral, permanent and indestructible component of American society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18285 in Books
• Published on: 1993-10-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780465068142
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
In nine grim metaphorical sketches, Bell, the black former Harvard law professor who made headlines recently for his one-man protest against the school's hiring policies, hammers home his controversial theme that white racism is a permanent, indestructible component of our society. Bell's fantasies are often dire and apocalyptic: a new Atlantis rises from the ocean depths, sparking a mass emigration of blacks; white resistance to affirmative action softens following an explosion that kills Harvard's president and all of the school's black professors; intergalactic space invaders promise the U.S. President that they will clean up the environment and deliver tons of gold, but in exchange, the bartering aliens take all African Americans back to their planet. Other pieces deal with black-white romance, a taxi ride through Harlem and job discrimination. Civil rights lawyer Geneva Crenshaw, the heroine of Bell's And We Are Not Saved (1987), is back in some of these ominous allegories, which speak from the depths of anger and despair. Bell now teaches at New York University Law School.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Bell, in the news because he is on leave from Harvard Law School to protest its never having hired a tenured black woman, has written a provocative and creative book that nicely follows his And We Are Not Saved ( LJ 8/87). His "interweaving of fact and fiction" and an "unorthodox form" make for stimulating reading and clarify for white readers the obstacles continually faced by black Americans and the miseries they endlessly endure. No other book features, as does this one, a Racial Preference Licensing Act, Racial Data Storms, Afroatlantica Emigration, Space Traders (guess who they are coming to take away?), the Anne Frank Committee, and White Citizens for Black Survival. Bell's thoughts about Minister Louis Farrakhan and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas are a contribution to the public dialog on those figures. An especially important and relevant publication for public and academic libraries.
- Katherine Dahl, Western Illinois Univ., Macomb
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Here, as he did in And We Are Not Saved, Harvard Law School professor Bell offers dramatized accounts of the dilemma of race relations in America. Bell uses stories and fables to examine such themes as desire for homeland; the role of violence; interracial relationships; and scapegoating. He argues that ``racial nepotism'' on the part of whites allows de facto discrimination to exist even without animosity: ``When whites perceive that it will be profitable or at least cost-free to serve, hire, admit, or otherwise deal with blacks on a non-discriminatory basis, they do so. When they fear- -accurately or not--that there may be a loss, inconvenience, or upset to themselves or other whites, discriminatory conduct usually follows.'' Such racism will be with us forever, Bell contends. In the face of this, he calls for blacks to ``fashion a philosophy that both matches the unique dangers we face, and enables us to recognize in those dangers opportunities for committed living and humane service.'' Bell's method of making his points through stories allows for a certain moral complexity: Thoughtful persons work menial jobs; a dynamic black leader who has dedicated his life to his people and worries about his place in history falls in love with a white woman; space aliens who speak English with Reagan's voice arrive with gold, safe nuclear power, and ``special chemicals capable of unpolluting the environment''--and all they ask in exchange is that America's black citizens be turned over to them. But the stories, for all their fablelike power, are laden with great chunks of orotund exposition and numerous overworked adverbs. By using them, Bell forfeits the polemical passion of his introductory essay, while their simplistic dramatizations jar with the impressive legal erudition apparent elsewhere. Still, despite his lackluster writing, Bell offers insight into the rage, frustration, and yearning of being black in America. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Bell makes it known, racism will always exist. Sad isn't it
After reading this book, Professor Bell became one of the main reasons I chose to attend NYU School of Law. Bell poignantly tells the story of an oppressed race through allegory that at once is entertaining and educational. Two stories in particular made such an impact that I still feel it a full 5 years after reading the book. The first, Afrolantica, focused on the accomplishments that African Americans can make when working toward a common goal. The ending points out that if African Americans focus and produce we can achieve anything, even the seemingly impossible by using cooperation and productivity. The last story literally reduced me to tears. Though the premise was a little far-fetched it brought home to me the realization of African Americans' importance (or lack their of) as people with hearts, minds and souls to those that form the majority in this country. At first it left me feeling hopeless, but then it made me want to fight harder. And after having met the Professor Bell and sat in his classroom I am certain that my later reaction is what he was after. The other stories are definately worthwhile also, but I point to these two because of the profound emotional effect they had on me. A must read for the believers and non-believers of the theory that racism is so ingrained in American society that it can never be eradicated.

wanna play "What if?"
This is a very interesting and engaging book. The book is a collection of fictionalized, race themed, stories that challenge common beliefs about race. For instance, what if there were an Atlantis style utopia that only African Americans could live? What would be the reactions of whites? Would whites be glad to be rid of the 'black problem'? Would blacks want to leave the US to populate the utopian society? Bell takes an interesting and unexpected approach to this idea. Overall a good read that stimulates fresh approaches to race relations.

Much-needed realism concerning race relations!
Professor Bell takes the bold step of examining, and relating, a crucial truth about US society: the oppresion of people of color has been, and remains, integral to the maintenance of this society as we know it. Using a number of fictional vignettes that containing an alarming amount of reality and possibility, he demonstrates how--contrary to the naive belief that the country is making so much progress--African Americans (and others of color) will continue to be used for the purposes of European Americans and their desire for control. In a particularly harrowing story entitled "The Sapce Traders," Bell portrays a deal, made between the United States government and and alien race, to trade all African Americans in exchange for new fuel and gold reserves and environmental aids. Indeed, the apsect of the story that requires the greatest excercise of imagination is the existence of the traveling aliens; the description of how this government and society would ! use African Americans for their own purposes is all-too believable! Those of all races who would examine this country and themselves should read this book at the first opportunity!