Derrick Bell - Ethical Ambition

"Ethical Ambition moved me first to tears and then to action. Derrick Bell writes with passion and beautyrarely the gift of one so scholarly.This new work is the treasure I've been waiting for."

Susan L. Taylor, editorial director, Essence magazine, and author of In the Spirit

"Seldom has the self-sustaining passion of a life lived boldly, but with self-examining humility, been so courageously andhonestly conveyed. A generation thirsting for a life of meaning in an age of market-driven anomie will be profoundly gratefulto the author for the lessons he has drawn out of a long career of activist integrity within the ever-uncompleted work ofjustice."

-Jonathan Kozol, New York Times bestselling author of SavageInequalities

"Ethical Ambition is an inspirational Baedeker, a guide to translating one's convictions into action in everyday life, and a reminder not tomistake athletic or self-centered risk-taking with true courage. If everyone could live as ethically and passionately as DerrickBell, humanity would take an evolutionary leap forward."

Letty Cottin Pogrebin, author of Deborah, Golda, and Me: BeingFemale and Jewish in America and Getting Over Getting Older

"Derrick Bell's Ethical Ambition carefully lays out the possibility of both being successful and living by one's core values, one's ethical convictions. Bellis the ultimate teacher, a mentor to all of us."

Anna Deavere Smith, actor, playwright

"Quietly energizing."

Kirkus Reviews

"Bell has clearly earned the right to give the rest of us some advice. The voice that emerges from the pages of Ethical Ambition is not that of a preacher in vengeance-is-mine mode, but of a kindly man who has seen a thing or two and simply wants to passon the benefit of his experience... one has the sense of being led by a wise teacher through lessons well worth revisiting.In Ethical Ambition, Bell has written a useful, thought-provoking, and timely book."

Black Issues Book Review

"If [Bell's] idea that the benefits of taking a stand outweigh the costs isn't a specific prescription for the future, it'sa hell of a guideline."

Philadelphia City Paper

"Ethical Ambition, written in Bell's non-flashy, matter-of-fact style, is a must read for this day and age."

Caribbean Life

"Bell's book offers great insight into how an individual seeks to Uve by the highest of personal standards."

Booklist

"Derrick Bell has scribed this collection of reflections and preserved a legacy deserving of an enduring appreciation."

Indianapolis Recorder

"Bell shows us that being successful need not mean being unprincipled."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"He has produced a contemporary guide to living with principles and conviction... and imparts ethical wisdom without seemingpreachy."

Dallas Morning News

"[Ethical Ambition] gives one hope that the center might be holding."

Kansas City Star

"Cogently argued, powerfully rendered, he takes familiar ideas and shows how a life dedicated to the practice of ethics leadsto success."

Seattle Scanner

Ethical Ambition

Living a Life of

Meaning and Worth

Derrick Bell

First published in Great Britain 2002
Copyright 2002 by Derrick Bell

This electronic edition published 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

The right of Derrick Bell to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 36 Soho Square, London W1D 3QY

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 4088 2055 1

www.bloomsbury.com/derrickbell

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CONTENTS

Throughout the ages, men and women of senior years, ignoring theoutward greed and inner narcissism that held their worlds enthralled,have counseled ethical living as the proper road to a fulfilling life.Strange? Paradoxical? Bizarre? Yes, all of these, and yet here I addmy voice to concur in what Fve learned is basic truth.

D.B.

How can I maintain my integrity

while seeking success?

THOSE OF us with ambitions and dreams of success struggle with this question every day. I have never ceased grappling withit, and I know its implications are a source of ongoing concern for many of my students, whether they are students of color,white students with progressive politics, or students who see themselves as marginalized in other ways. They are worried aboutthe choices they've already made, or the ones they are afraid they will have to make as they gear up to pursue individualsuccess in a competitive marketplace. Many of them have already witnessed unfairness and perhaps have even been its victims.They realize the price of a life lived with integrity may be high, particularly if they have corporate aspirations. How arethey to achieve their goals without compromising their identities - without sacrificing their sense of who they are?

Often they see my life as an answer to these questions. They and others who seek my advice assume that I have the solution to their career dilemmabecause my status as a law professor was not derailed when, in order to protest the lack of minority women as faculty members,I gave up a tenured position at the Harvard Law School, and earlier, for similar reasons, a deanship at the University ofOregon Law School, Surely, having survived after walking away from prestigious jobs, I must have the answer to how they canachieve success with integrity. Without intending it, I have become a model for many, even a hero to some. This elevated statuscarries with it an obligation to share honestly the meaning of my experiences. This obligation extends beyond just my students,other lawyers, and activists. I direct my words to them, but just as much to anyone who is striving to do well and do good, and especially to those who can't imagine it might be possible to do both.

I want this book to encourage those who, by reading it, may recognize more clearly their abilities, talents, and potentialfor positive contributions in this world. A committed life need not mean one without fun, without laughter, without romance.Energized with this insight, readers may better see that a full life should include humor and good times while challengingthe barriers that life poses. This all-encompassing approach can nourish the spirit - whatever the risks, whatever the outcome.

Students know I was not to the manor born. I come from a working-class family. Neither of my parents got beyond high school.Only one member of my extended family - an uncle living in a different city - completed college and earned professional status.I did not graduate from a major college or law school. I didn't go on from there to a prestigious judicial clerkship. I reallyresigned from my first job in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department because they viewed my two-dollar NAACPmembership as a conflict of interest, and insisted I give it up. Then, after a stint serving as director of my hometown chapterof the NAACP, I joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and worked in the Deep South as a civil rights lawyer. In subsequent positions,I administered civil rights and poverty law programs. These are hardly credentials likely to excite the pulses of hiring personnelat an elite law school. However, in the wake of the urban disturbances that followed the assassination of Dr Martin LutherKing, Jr, and the student protests of the time I was invited to teach at the Harvard Law School, and became the first blackperson to gain tenure there. I've written a half-dozen books that look hard at racism - far from the ideal subject matterto enhance a reputation at a premier law school.