Randall Kennedy

No, it wasn't when dinosaurs roamed.

1865, frankly, is not all that long ago.

In 1865,

The great mass of black people in the United States had recently been released from chattel slavery.

The great mass of black people in the United States in 1865 were illiterate.

Now?

I mean, it's absolutely, it's an absolutely extraordinary story.

And so one of the difficulties I have at this moment is wrapping my head around two stories that are in such tension with one another.

One is the continuing story of racism, which is an awful story.

But the other story is a story that is encapsulated in

in the title of a great book of history by John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom.

And, you know, those are two stories in American life, and it takes an awful lot to put your mind around both stories, and I'm trying to.

Sure.

Well, affirmative action refers to racial affirmative action, because there's various sorts of affirmative action.

You can have affirmative action for veterans.

You can have affirmative action for in-state residents.

Let's suppose you have a school, the University of blah, blah, blah, and we're going to reach out a hand to boost help.

people who live within the state.

We're going to have a boost for veterans.

We're going to have a boost for women.