Quotes from Derrick A. Bell

To see things as they really are, you must imagine them for what they might be.

I knew that not all whites are racist, but that the oppression she was committed to resist was racial and emanated from whites.

Education leads to enlightenment. Enlightenment opens the way to empathy. Empathy foreshadows reform.

Today, little has changed. Many poorer whites oppose social reform as "welfare programs for blacks" although, ironically, they have employment, education, and social service needs that differ from those of poor blacks by a margin that, without a racial scorecard, is difficult to measure. Interest

Resistance is a powerful motivator precisely because it enables us to fulfill our longing to achieve our goals while letting us boldly recognize and name the obstacles to those achievements.