Randall Kennedy - Barack Obama's "Crossover Appeal"

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/01/16/Randall_Kennedy_In_Conversation_with_Christopher_Ed...

Controversial African-American cultural critic Randall Kennedy discusses Barack Obama's "crossover appeal" to white voters, in a conversation with Dean of UC-Berkeley School of Law Christopher Edley, Jr.

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Randall Kennedy in conversation with Christopher Edley, Jr.

Randall Kennedy is one the most outspoken and compelling commentators on race in America. Born in segregated South Carolina at the cusp of the Civil Rights Movement, Kennedy had early ambitions to become a Civil Rights attorney. The Rhodes Scholar graduated from Princeton University and then Yale Law School, earning a clerkship with Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall before joining the faculty of Harvard Law School.

Kennedy's work received national attention with the publication of his book Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word. In the book, Kennedy dissects the most notorious racial slur in the American language and also examines the linguistic baggage behind such words as "racism," "discrimination," and "diversity." His new book Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal explores the idea of African-Americans denying their heritage to get ahead in society. Kennedy is a longtime professor at Harvard Law School where he teaches courses on freedom of expression and the regulation of race relations - City Arts & Lectures

Christopher Edley, Jr. joined Boalt Hall as dean and professor of law in 2004, after 23 years as a professor at Harvard Law School. He earned a law degree and a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University, where he served as an editor and officer of the Harvard Law Review. Edley's academic work is primarily in the areas of civil rights and administrative law. He has also taught federalism, budget policy, Defense Department procurement law, national security law, and environmental law. Edley was co-founder of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, a renowned multidisciplinary research and policy think tank focused on issues of racial justice.

His publications include Not All Black and White: Affirmative Action, Race and American Values and Administrative Law: Rethinking Judicial Control of Bureaucracy.

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[backto83]

These guys aren't ready for change and have no one to blame but themselves because they're really caught off guard by obama's success and can't handle it. They always give a negative spin on obama because obama's not making anything a racial issue. He's only saying we're in pretty bad shape and I think I can help get us out this mess.....(sacrafice). I think obama really knows what he has to do and is ready to pull the plug on this war machine.

[Roddykris]

I rather have someone with good judgment than someone with good connections running the country. Obama has 6 yrs of experience working in the state senate and 4 yrs in the US senate. That equals 10 yrs of public service versus Hillary's 8. He passed a hugely popular health care bill in Ill. he was a civil rights lawyer, law professor, president of the Harvard Law Review, community organizer, magna cum laude from Harvard Law and magna cum laude in international relations at Columbia.

[kofi7777]

Want vote for Obama again. Blacks votes for Democrats lock step. In 2008 the black vote ONLY made a difference in 6 states ... 6 states. During the midterm republicans took over the state house in many of the 6.

[freein2339]

@gagothesith Well the electorate just trust Black conservatives..not even the GOP electorate...why is that if the GOP loves knee-grows so much....??

[gagothesith]

Prof Edley's annoyance at Kennedy's *shrillness* is too much for him to hide.

[gagothesith]

@freein2339 That's a choice for the electorate to make.

[gagothesith]

@backto83 What "sacrafice" has BH Obama paid? What "sacrafice" has he called upon his own supporters to make--as opposed to the "sacrafices" he wants his political opponents to make?

[gagothesith]

@classic14rider

Rubbish. Obama, while he is portrayed as different from the stereotypical African-American leader, THRIVES on the community's stereotypes and prejudices.

And profiting from RHETORIC without any regard for action and responsibility for the consequences of the programs he advocates is precisely what makes Obama as much bullshit as Sharpton and Jackson.

[freein2339]

First Black president a "super-conservative"...??? They can't even get a Black member of the GOP in congress....

[jakefree24]

Crossover appeal, gimme a break. He couldn't even get the nomination today.

[shawnee2014]

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