God shows
no partiality. (Romans 2:11)
Dear Anna,
Derrick Bell, way back in my time, is the father of CRT. He taught law at Harvard and Stanford. Like our Lord, when teaching, he liked to tell stories. He gathered up some of these stories and put them into a book entitled Faces at the Bottom of the Well: https://www.c-span.org/video/?34630-1/faces-bottom-well.
My two favorite stories are The Afrolantica Awakening about how the lost continent of Atlantis, lush and beautiful, floats up to the surface. To everyone’s surprise, only black people could breathe Atlantis’ air. It is the kind of fantasy you would write. And the book’s last story, The Space Traders about extraterrestrials who arrive in the United States offering gold, safe nuclear power, and other technological advances in exchange for all of its black citizens. They require a decision in 5 days. It all adds up to blacks finding themselves, despite civil rights laws and all our platitudes, at the bottom of the well. Why is that?
Derrick Bell reminds me of John Calvin, that 16th century theologian and father of the Reformation. I like Calvin, but Calvinist can be obnoxious know-it-alls. Calvin calls them his “cavalier followers”. I like Bell, but his followers tend to be domineering and dictatorial. They allow no room to discuss any alternatives or other possibilities. It is as if their critical theory has reached the status of ex cathedra. I hope your teachers allow robust questioning. I don’t know anyone better at questioning things than you.
Love, PAPA
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