Randall Kennedy Quotes

• I will say go into the world and try to find good people that feel genuine affection and love for you, and disregard everything else about their background.

  Randall Kennedy

  People, Trying, And Love

  7 Copy quote

• Any successful black person will have to face suspicion within his or her own community about his or her loyalty to other blacks.

  Randall Kennedy

  Loyalty, Successful, Community

  "Kennedy Mulls Meaning of Being Branded a 'Sellout'". "Tell Me More" with Michel Martin, www.npr.org. January 9, 2008.

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• The infamy of n - - is - it's a word that has been used to terrorize people, to put people down. But it has also been used in other ways. It's also been used as a way of putting a mirror up to racism.

  Randall Kennedy

  Mirrors, Racism, People

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• If you want to put somebody down, analogize them to the n - - .

  Randall Kennedy

  Want, Ifs

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• In elite, primarily white institutions, there are many blacks who have white wives. So much so that sometimes there is almost the assumption that I would be married to a white woman.

  Randall Kennedy

  White, Wife, Would Be

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• I was born in Columbia in 1954, the year the Supreme Court invalidated racial segregation in public schools. I visited frequently but did not live there.

  Randall Kennedy

  School, Years, Segregation

  Randall Kennedy (2013). “For Discrimination: Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law”, p.3, Vintage

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• What people should do is explain to their friends, to their neighbors how they feel when they confront the word n - - and why they feel the way they feel.

  Randall Kennedy

  People, Way, Neighbor

  Source: www.pbs.org

  7 Copy quote

• The biggest accomplishment, in racial terms, for Barack Obama was being elected. He had to overcome his blackness to be elected. He climbed the Mt. Everest of American politics, becoming an historic first.

  Randall Kennedy

  Accomplishment, Firsts, Becoming

  "Law professor-author Randall Kennedy". "The Tavis Smiley show", www.pbs.org. September 1, 2011.

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• In 1619, when there are reports about the first blacks brought to British North America, they are referred to as N-I-G-G-U-H-S. Well, it doesn't seem that that was meant in a derogatory way. It seems merely descriptive.

  Randall Kennedy

  America, Way, Firsts

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• Go back and take a look at what some black writers were saying in the 1820s, the 1830s. They make mention of how some white people would tell their children, if you don't behave, we're going to put you in the n - - seat. If you don't behave, we are going to make you sit with the n - - s. That's why we know that, by then, the word had become a slur.

  Randall Kennedy

  Children, White, People

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• There are some people who make a big distinction between n - a, which they say is OK, and n - - . Now, in my view, it's important to know about that distinction, because some people put a lot of weight on it. I don't.

  Randall Kennedy

  Views, People, Important

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• I think that many black people thought this would be a wonderful and extraordinary thing, for a black family to occupy the White House. Not only black people; a lot of white people thought that, too, but particularly black people.

  Randall Kennedy

  Thinking, White, People

  "Law professor-author Randall Kennedy". "Tavis Smiley Show", www.pbs.org. September 1, 2011.

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• Language of the Gun shows why Bernard Harcourt has earned a reputation as one of our most provocative and informative analysts of the administration of criminal justice. Thoroughly interdisciplinary, he brings to bear on his subject a remarkably wide range of sources. Most striking are his probing interviews with at-risk youths which provide a fascinating and rare glimpse into how they think about guns and gun carrying. This book bristles with insight and information.

  Randall Kennedy

  Book, Thinking, Gun

  9 Copy quote

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