Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism

“Here, I again enlist the use of literary models as a more helpful vehicle than legal precedent in a continuing quest for new directions in our struggle for racial justice, a struggle we must continue even if—as I contend here—racism is an integral, permanent, and indestructible component of this society. The challenge throughout has been to tell what I view as the truth about racism without causing disabling despair.”

Bell identifies his central thesis, approach, and purpose in this quote from the first and second paragraphs of the text. His assertion that racism is permanent may well be a shock to most readers who are committed to racial equality in the United States, so the mention of despair is an effective rhetorical move that allows him to anticipate and begin addressing the possible objection that believing racism is permanent would incapacitate sincere readers. In addition, the quote allows Bell to prepare the reader for the use of atypical genres to advance his perspectives on race and the law. His attention to these rhetorical elements shores up his credibility as a writer.

“Mrs. MacDonald looked at me and said slowly, seriously, ‘I can’t speak for everyone, but as for me, I am an old woman. I lives to harass white folks.’”

In choosing the voice of an ordinary but brave woman to represent people who are defiant in the face of likely failure to end racism, Bell signals that he sees the stories of ordinary African Americans as valuable evidence. The inclusion of her story is an example of storytelling, a hallmark of the way critical race theorists make their arguments.