Randall Kennedy

I did it because my boss demanded that I Negro Capital In.

Now, who was my boss?

My boss in the summer of 1983 was Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall, known as Mr. Civil Rights.

Now, it seems to me you're telling me that this word is so out of bounds, that this word is derogatory, nobody should ever use this word.

Does the fact that Thurgood Marshall demanded that I use this word, does that complicate things a little bit?

And so I think that people, again, ought to know more.

I mean, I've encountered students who don't know very much

but who want to lecture me on word usage because they know three sentences about current fashion.

And hold it.

Hold it.

By the way, I push it further.

I sometimes use the word colored.

Some people really don't like that.

Well, you know, there's an organization still very much alive in American life and law, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP.

They haven't changed their name.

And as far as I'm concerned, it's a wonderful organization.

There are people who have used the word colored.

That's what my grandmother used, colored.

Perfectly fine as far as I'm concerned.

So again, there are lots of different words that one can use.