Randall Kennedy

But thus far, and I am most especially experienced in life at Harvard Law School,

Harvard Law School is an open environment in which ideas are tested, and they are tested fully.

And it's because of that that I say I have been fully supported at Harvard Law School, feel that it is an excellent place in which to do work.

I'm a fan.

I am a fan.

And I'm not embarrassed to say it.

I am a fan of my workplace, Harvard Law School.

Very happy to be associated with Harvard Law School.

Okay.

So the first thing I want to say- What is it?

Well, the first thing I want to say about critical race theory is that critical race theory has become a term.

So I'm going to put quotation marks around the term critical race theory.

In a minute, I'll talk about critical race theory without quotation marks.

But to begin with, I want to talk about critical race theory because the reason why people are talking about critical race theory so much now is

is because politicians, mainly Republican right-wing politicians, have created a boogeyman, critical race theory with quotation marks around it.

They have created a boogeyman, and they have tried to make it seem as though this boogeyman

believes all sorts of ideas that Americans should loathe and that Americans should fear.

And they've created this boogeyman and they've created it and they've done a very good job of creating the boogeyman and they have mobilized sufficient, you know, public support such that, you know, there are a number of states that have passed laws prohibiting

the teaching of so-called critical race theory.

Now, the first thing I want to say about this is that this campaign, these laws, these various policies telling teachers don't teach this and don't teach that, and you can't use this book, you can't use that book, this is a frightening encroachment on freedom