Lex Fridman Podcast
#379 – Randall Kennedy: The N-Word – History of Race, Law, Politics, and Power
24 May 2023
Randall Kennedy is a law professor at Harvard and author of many seminal books on race, law, history, culture, and politics. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/lex to get special savings - Linode: https://linode.com/lex to get $100 free credit - InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex to get 20% off EPISODE LINKS: Randall's Website: https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/randall-l-kennedy N*****: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word: https://amzn.to/3MbrXSC Say It Loud!: On Race, Law, History, and Culture: https://amzn.to/3MfQWUT For Discrimination: Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law: https://amzn.to/3BASZxZ Race, Crime, and the Law: https://amzn.to/3pVtVyU PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) - Introduction (06:11) - The N-word (41:55) - The three N-words (1:08:28) - Education (1:21:31) - Critical race theory (1:32:05) - Racism and policing (1:39:25) - Racial profiling (2:08:57) - Racism in US history (2:26:55) - Affirmative action (3:10:22) - Martin Luther King Jr.
Full Episode
The following is a conversation with Randall Kennedy, professor at Harvard Law School and author of many seminal books on race, law, history, culture, and politics, including specifically on affirmative action, criminal justice, policing, and the topic explored extensively in this conversation, the single most powerful word and slur in the English language, the N-word, with a hard R at the end.
Randall has written a book with this word as the title, N-Word, The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word. Please be warned that Randall uses this word throughout this conversation, deliberately and skillfully, to discuss its power and its role in the history of the United States.
I don't intend to shy away from controversial topics like these, and I'll work hard to handle them thoughtfully and thoroughly, with respect and with empathy, often with several guests who have very different perspectives on the topic.
In the end, I believe in the power of long-form conversations that heal divides by furthering understanding of human nature, of human history, and the full diversity of the human experience. And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support this podcast.
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I try to make this interesting, but if you must skip them, please still check out our sponsors. I enjoy their stuff. Maybe you will too. This episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep and its new Pod 3 mattress. the very device, the technological smart portal into a dimension that I take every single day for many hours once and for a few minutes once or twice a day. also known as NAPS.
Wherever the place that that portal takes me is a wonderful place. All I know, very importantly, is when I return, I return a new human being. Whatever happens to me, with the creatures that dwell in that alternate dimension, whatever they do to me, they reset the CPU and the memory and whatever is required.
They defrag the hard drive enough to where I wake up refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the day. Naps are just magic. Big believer, big lover of naps. If there's a hack to the simulation that we're all existing in, naps are it. Anyway, check out this magical portal into the alternate dimension and get special savings when you go to eighthsleep.com.
This episode is also brought to you by Linode, now called Akamai, and their incredible Linux virtual machines. I've said this many times, but Linux is my favorite operating system, all of the flavors. Some people talk about their favorite flavors of ice cream. I talk about my favorite flavors of Linux. Both the ice cream and the Linux have evolved over the years.
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