Randall Kennedy

I write, I'll write the superintendent of schools or I'll write the principal or sometimes I'll write an opinion editorial piece for the local newspaper.

But every year there are teachers who are disciplined for using my book.

I had not anticipated that.

There's not been one case, there's not been one case that has come to my attention in which it was even remotely sensible for the teacher to be disciplined.

And what I say is that, number one, frankly, I go through, what I write is almost a synopsis of my book.

Number one, this is an important word in American history.

It is a word that is explosive.

That's why people get so upset.

It's a word that's volatile.

It's a word that has typically been used in a terrible way.

It's a word that is part of the soundtrack of racial terrorism in the United States.

So people ought to know about this word.

I mean, if you're interested in knowing the real history of the United States, if you're interested in knowing about lynching, if you're interested in knowing about the way in which black people have been terrorized in the United States, you need to know this word.

You need to know that history.

So you need to know why it is that people are upset about the word.

But it doesn't end there.

You have to know that.

And if you know that, then that knowledge should equip you to be careful.

It should equip you to know the range of context in which this word appears.

But again, it doesn't just end there because especially young people, you tell that to young people, they nod, they read, they understand that.