“Discrimination in the workplace is as vicious (if less obvious) than it was when employers posted the sign ‘no Negras need apply,’” he wrote in his 1992 book, Faces at the Bottom of the Well. He had to look no further than his collegiate institutions to see this viciousness.
Bell did not merely champion diversity, love diversity or write on diversity in higher education—he gave his career to diversity (along with a series of other noble charges). “Your faith in what you believe must be a living, working faith that draws you away from comfort and security, and toward risk through confrontation,” he once wrote.
Bell continuously created personal discomfort through entering the risky confines of the court of American opinion to publically confront racism and sexism. Through his life, he regularly broadcast a challenge. Now, through his lifework, the broadcast remains the same: in a world of injustice, beliefs for beliefs’ sake are inoperable; having principles and not defending them is ominous. Our beliefs, our principles, must compel us to work—stridently work for a healthier higher education, for a healthier America.
Dr. Ibram H. Rogers is an assistant professor of African American history at SUNY College at Oneonta.
