Randall Kennedy

You can use different formulations.

I understand that people have different preferences.

Fine.

I have my preferences at least know where I'm coming from.

Mm-hmm.

My response is, it all depends on the way in which the word is being used.

If the word is being used to intimidate, if the word is being used to terrorize, then no.

Along with lots of other words, by the way.

I mean, you can have, I could use the word, I suppose, gentleman.

I mean, I'm sure that I could conjure up a way in which that word could be used in an intimidating way.

So would I be happy if there was a technology that always blanked this word, N-I-G-G-E-R?

I would be against that.

For one thing, it would erase the name of one of my books.

And I think that the book actually has a lot of useful information and makes some useful points.

And by the way, let's imagine a world in which there was a technology that...

Every time N-I-G-G-E-R appeared, you would have, what would that do to novels by James Baldwin, by Toni Morrison, by, what would that do to the speeches of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr.?

What would that do to the comedy albums of Richard Pryor, Cat Williams, Dave Chappelle?

You know, what would that, if one sort of plays that out, would one want to have all of those blanks in important literary and political performances?

No, I don't want such blanks.

What I want, I would want the word to be there and for people to understand how to deal with this word.