Derrick Bell at Harvard

Thomas Sowell knew Derrick Bell and he said something very interesting in a recent interview with Sean Hannity. He said Bell was smart but he

“ ... was put in an impossible position. He was hired as a full professor at the Harvard law school when he himself said that he did not have the kinds of qualifications that people have when they get appointed as full professors at Harvard law school. And so what were his options. His options were to be a nobody among world famous intellectuals or to go off on his own shtick and try to be significant or important in that way. And he chose the low road. The fundamental problem was making him a professor at the Harvard law school when even he himself knew that that was not something he merited.”

That is a brilliant insight. We often think that people who get something they do not earn or believe they merit are grateful, but the opposite it often the case. Imagine yourself competing in a foot race and finish the race second or third. Suddenly the judge awards you the first place prize for reasons that have nothing to do with your racing ability. You know you didn’t win. The other runners would resent you. But if you accept the trophy anyway you begin to hate the person who put you in this position. That is Derrick Bell at Harvard.