On MSNBC last night, Harvard Professor Derrick Bell’s widow, Janet Dewart Bell denounced the “drum beat of negativity” from the right suggesting her husband was a racist.
When asked by host Ed Schultz if she thought her husband was a racist, she responded, “I think the number of students of his were white at whose weddings he officiated, because they asked him to, he is beloved by all his students, all races, and just all backgrounds. . I think they would be very surprised to even think that would be the case in any way.”
Bell challenged “the good people who will speak up on the right” and “moderate Republicans” to denounce the smears of her husband, insisting that her husband was “a patriot” and a “war veteren.”
“Derrick thought that the ideals of fair play, social justice, equality, opportunity, those are things that should be shared, everybody should get a shot at the American dream. That is what Derrick Bell was about.’ she said.
Bell reminded Schultz that Gloria Steinhem declared her husband an “honorary woman” because, “he was a feminist.”
“If he were here today, he would be standing up for Sandra Fluke,” she said.
