Before Harvard Law Professor Derek Bell was for affirmative action, he was against it.

This is noteworthy because Bell is best known for his contributions to critical race theory,

which claims that racism is embedded in American institutions and that the historical mistreatment of black people

largely explains current disparities.

In a 1970 law review article, Bell objected to using

different criteria to assess student performance depending on race. In the past, he noted,

the small percentages of blacks admitted to selective law schools not only met the usual academic

criteria, but were often characterized by a strong inner drive to equal and, if at all, possible, excel their

white classmates. Admitting blacks who did not meet accepted standards was, in Bell's words,

a form of benevolent paternalism. He warned that racial preferences risked tainting the accomplishments

of those who succeeded in the eyes of whites and blacks alike.

Whatever arguments are used to justify such a policy, he wrote,

there is little denying that it robs those black students who have done well

of receiving real credit and the boost in confidence that their accomplishments merit.

Although Bell later changed his mind,

he offered a preview of a half-century of arguments

that will be made against racial preferences. That might give pause to those who are inclined to dismiss

criticism of affirmative action as racist. Bell's concerns about the psychological toll of affirmative

action turned out to be prescient. More than five decades of racial preferences have created the impression that black advancement

is impossible without them.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent of the 2023 Supreme Court ruling against

affirmative action, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, that the court's ruling

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