Sandel and Brewer Debate Racial Identities, Obligations

Government Professor Michael A. Sandel and Assistant Professor of Law Scott Brewer squared off on the issue of racial obligation last night at a forum sponsored by the undergraduate Black pre-law society.

In a debate laden with philosophical discourse, Brewer argued that individuals should feel equally responsible for members of all races while Sandel contended they should first owe allegiance to their own communities.

Brewer, who began the debate, said Black professors have no obligation to provide extra help to Black students. Often, the notion of "special obligation" leads people to belittle Black ability, he added.

"It leads people to say, 'Oh, yes, you should help Black students because they need extra help."

Sandel, who teaches Moral Reasoning 22, "Justice," refuted Brewer's ideas, saying that people have a moral responsibility to assist the communities to which they belong.

Sandel said Jackie Robinson's words upon reaching the Major Leagues best reflect his communal ethic.

"Maybe I can do it for the good of my people," echoed Sandel.

Distinctions of culture, race, and religion offer people communal pride, Sandel continued.

And he cited W.E.B. DuBois's view that talented and successful Black individuals should help lift up the less educated.

Brewer rebutted with the "cosmopolitan" contention that people should see themselves as responsible to all humanity, not just one community.

Law students and undergraduates who attended the event challenged both speakers after the debate, often drawing upon their own experiences.

Tonya Osborne '95, co-chair of the Charles Hamilton Houston Black Pre-law Society, said Harvard can offer a deeper sense of community than race alone.

But "I don't think a lot of people outside this context are afforded this luxury," she said.

Beyond the College, however, race can provide a community fabric, Osborne said. For example, Black lawyers should help struggling kids in Roxbury, she added.

Brewer replied that whites could also serve as role models for Black children.

"If Black lawyers have [an obligation], white lawyers have it too," he said.

Zola B. Mashariki, a first-year law student, said that after seeing her parents battle for civil rights and her brother struggling through a Brooklyn high school, she felt indebted to use her education to help the Black community.

"I'm not saying that everybody has to do that but I'm wondering where our community would be if we didn't do that," Mashariki said.

But some listeners challenged Sandel. One mused that strong community identification often led to chauvinism, and others said the Black community is not monolithic.

Robert T. Simmelkjaer, also a first-year Law student, asked Sandel, "Can race define who we are!"

Simmelkjaer added that Blacks raised in suburbs might have more in common with suburban whites than inner-city Blacks.

To this Sandel replied that the common history of a group, not skin color, determined the community. A Black individual's life story is "inseparable from a life story of a people and a community," said the professor

Simmelkjaer added that Blacks raised in suburbs might have more in common with suburban whites than inner-city Blacks.

To this Sandel replied that the common history of a group, not skin color, determined the community. A Black individual's life story is "inseparable from a life story of a people and a community," said the professor