Mario L. Barnes

Reflection on a Dream World: Race, Post–Race and the Question of Making It Over

INTRODUCTION Fifteen years ago, as a third-year law student, I published my book note 2 in the inaugural issue of the African-American Law and Policy Report (ALPR). The note was inspired both by the book reviewed-Derrick Bells, Confronting Authority. Reflections of an Ardent Protester3-and an Alice Walker poem that encouraged African Americans to help each other in our mutual struggle against oppression.4 The note sought to analyze the pitfalls, and ultimately, what I saw as the triumph in Professor Bells protest against Harvard Law Schools refusal to hire a tenured/tenure track black female professor. Even though his immediate efforts ended well before Harvard Law School ever tenured an African-American woman, a central theme of Confronting Authority is that protest and struggle are often more about the journey than the destination.