Randall Kennedy

And, you know, one of the things that ironically enabled him to become one of the great people of the world, he was born into slavery.

His overcoming was the very thing that, in a sense, made him

this larger than life figure.

And I think there's something to you.

I will say this because a minute ago you mentioned optimism and pessimism.

And I'd say in the last few years, my feeling about the United States has changed.

And it's changed in a somber way.

For most of my life, I've been in the optimistic camp with respect to my view of American race relations.

You know, the optimistic camp.

That was the camp.

That's the camp that believes we shall overcome.

That's Martin Luther King's camp.

Martin Luther King, hours before he's killed, I've been to the mountaintop.

I might not get there with you, but I've glimpsed the promised land.

Optimism.

Frederick Douglass would be in that tradition.

There would be other people, wonderful, good people who would be in that tradition.

Oh, in the pessimistic camp, the pessimistic camp is the more interesting camp.

I mean, ideologically, I mean, it is, it's the more interesting camp, because in the pessimistic camp, you have, I mean, if I was going to list some of my pessimists, pessimist number one, Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson, the author, you know, principal author, Declaration of Independence, he was also the author of Notes on the State of Virginia.