Randall Kennedy: Professor at Harvard Law School and author of several seminal books on race, law, and politics, including 'Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word.' A former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, he is one of the most respected scholars on race and American law.
What this episode covers
Kennedy traces the origins and evolution of the N-word and explains why it remains uniquely powerful among English slurs. He defends the word's careful pedagogical use, arguing against censorship of it in classrooms, literature, and on social media, while acknowledging the real harm and responsibility it carries. The conversation broadens into free speech on campus, critical race theory, DEI and 'positionality' statements, policing and racial profiling, and affirmative action. Kennedy lays out the cases for and against affirmative action and shares his shift from firm optimism toward a more dampened view of American race relations, while still siding with the optimists. He closes with deeply personal reflections on his pessimistic father, the white teachers who changed his family's outlook, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s enduring dream.
The guest's own work
Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word
Randall Kennedy
“the book that you're referring to is nigger the strange career of a Troublesome word the word dates back to the 16th 17th century”— Randall Kennedy
Race, Crime, and the Law
Randall Kennedy
“my first book yeah was a book called race crime in the law and uh 1997 1997. wow as time flies”— Randall Kennedy
For Discrimination: Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law
Randall Kennedy
“you wrote a book on the topic titles for discrimination race affirmative action and the law uh first what is affirmative action”— Lex Fridman
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
“a teacher is teaching for instance um The Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn the word nigger appears in that book over 200 times”— Randall Kennedy
Nigger: An Autobiography
Dick Gregory
“he wrote several Memoirs but his first Memoir is called nigger a memoir how does one explain that”— Randall Kennedy
That Nigger's Crazy
Richard Pryor
“how does one explain Richard Pryor I mean Richard Pryor's best album is that nigga's crazy”— Randall Kennedy
I Am Not Your Negro
Raoul Peck
“there was a documentary about James Baldwin a couple of years ago highly lauded documentary the title that was given as documentary was I am not your negro”— Randall Kennedy
Notes on the State of Virginia
Thomas Jefferson
“he was also the author of notes on the state of Virginia and he said in notes on the state of Virginia basically we shall not overcome”— Randall Kennedy
From Slavery to Freedom
John Hope Franklin
“a great book of History by um John hope Franklin From Slavery to Freedom and you know those are two stories in American Life”— Randall Kennedy
The War on Cops
Heather Mac Donald
“Heather McDonald who wrote uh a book called war on Cops and uh will often bring up the stuff that does show up in the data”— Lex Fridman
The Tyranny of Merit
Michael Sandel
“a colleague of yours Michael sandel with uh with tyranny and Merit there's uh interesting rigorous ways to kind of challenge”— Lex Fridman
Big reveals from this episode
- Kennedy reveals that every year teachers are suspended or fired for assigning a chapter of his book, and he writes letters and op-eds defending them.
- An elderly Black man at his first book event told him the book, though well-intended, would be read by some as permission to use the word; Kennedy concedes the critique has real strength.
- Kennedy says he began using the word 'negro' professionally in 1983 because his boss, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, demanded it.
- He explicitly rejects 'defund the police,' arguing instead that police should be paid much more but held far more accountable.
- Kennedy admits his lifelong optimism about American race relations has been 'dampened' and 'tested,' though he remains in the optimist camp.
- He candidly states that affirmative action creates real stigma and that students on his first day of class reasonably wonder if he is as good as other professors.
- Kennedy says his father predicted that a Black family in the White House would 'derange' millions of white people, foreshadowing 2016.
Worth remembering
- The word appears over 200 times in Mark Twain's 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.'
- When researching, Kennedy found no other slur, including 'kike' or 'wetback', came remotely close to the N-word in frequency across federal court cases.
- 'Yankee' and 'queer' were once slurs that shifted meaning, showing how slur status evolves over time.
- In many antebellum slave states there was no crime called the murder of a Black person, only a tort for damaging another's property.
- Around 1890 the US averaged roughly one lynching per day, over 300 a year, with virtually no criminal prosecutions.
- Kennedy argues against profiling by saying security costs should be spread across everyone rather than imposed as a 'tax' on one group.
- He pushes back on test-skepticism, insisting a 200-point gap is real and matters, and that knowing what a yacht is doesn't require owning one.
- Kennedy attended St. Albans, Princeton, Oxford (Balliol), and Yale Law, but says his high school made the biggest difference in his education.