Say It Loud! : On Race, Law, History, and Culture

"A gathering of essays by the acclaimed Harvard legal scholar and public intellectual, that explores all the relevant cultural and historical issues of the past quarter century having to do with race and race relations in America. With a gimlet eye, decency and humaneness (and often courting controversy), Randall Kennedy chronicles his reactions over the past quarter century to arguments, events, and people that have compelled him to put pen to paper. Three beliefs that are sometimes in tension with one another infuse these pages. First, a massive amount of cruel racial injustice continues to beset the United States of America, an ugly reality that has become alarmingly obvious with the ascendancy of Donald J. Trump and the various political, cultural, and social pathologies that he and many of his followers display and reinforce. Second, there is much about which to be inspired when surveying the African American journey from slavery to freedom to engagement in practically every aspect of life in the United States. Third, an openness to complexity, paradox, and irony should attend any serious investigation of human affairs. Kennedy has tried to allow that sensibility ample leeway in the essays, prompting within himself surprise, ambivalence, and, on several occasions, a heartfelt need to express apology for prior oversights and mistaken judgments. Say It Loud! is nothing less than Randall Kennedy's magnum opus"-- Provided by publisher In a magnum opus that spans two decades, Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy, one of our preeminent legal scholars and public intellectuals, gives us twenty-nine provocative essays--some previously published, others written for this occasion--that explore key social justice issues of our time. Informed by sharpness of observation and often courting controversy, deep fellow feeling, decency, and wit, Say It Loud! includes: Shall We Overcome? Optimism and Pessimism in African American Racial Thought Derrick Bell and Me The George Floyd Moment: Promise and Peril Isabel Wilkerson, the Election of 2020, and Racial Caste The Princeton Ultimatum: Antiracism Gone Awry How Black Students Brought the Constitution to Campus Race and the Politics of Memorialization The Politics of Black Respectability Why Clarence Thomas Ought to Be Ostracized The Politics of Black Respectability Policing Racial Solidarity Say It Loud! On Race, Law, History, and Culture In each essay, Kennedy is mindful of complexity, ambivalence, and paradox, and he is always stirring and enlightening. Say It Loud! is a wide-ranging summa of Randall Kennedy's thought on the realities and imaginaries of race in America. A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • A collection of provocative essays exploring the key social justice issues of our time—from George Floyd to antiracism to inequality and the Supreme Court. Kennedy is "among the most incisive American commentators on race" ( The New York Times ). Informed by sharpness of observation and often courting controversy, deep fellow feeling, decency, and wit, Say It Loud! includes: The George Floyd Moment: Promise and Peril • Isabel Wilkerson, the Election of 2020, and Racial Caste • The Princeton Ultimatum: Anti­racism Gone Awry • The Constitutional Roots of “Birtherism” • Inequality and the Supreme Court • “Nigger”: The Strange Career Contin­ues • Frederick Douglass: Everyone’s Hero • Remembering Thurgood Marshall • Why Clar­ence Thomas Ought to Be Ostracized • The Politics of Black Respectability • Policing Ra­cial Solidarity In each essay, Kennedy is mindful of com­plexity, ambivalence, and paradox, and he is always stirring and enlightening. Say It Loud! is a wide-ranging summa of Randall Kennedy’s thought on the realities and imaginaries of race in America. In a magnum opus that spans two decades, Harvard Law School professor Randall Ken?nedy, one of our preeminent legal scholars and public intellectuals, gives us twenty-nine provocative essays?some previously published, others written for this occasion?that explore key social justice issues of our time. Informed by sharpness of observation and often courting controversy, deep fellow feeling, decency, and wit, Say It Loud! includes: The George Floyd Moment: Promise and Peril Isabel Wilkerson, the Election of 2020, and Racial Caste The Princeton Ultimatum: Anti?racism Gone Awry The Constitutional Roots of "Birtherism" Inequality and the Supreme Court "Nigger": The Strange Career Contin?ues Frederick Douglass: Everyone?s Hero Remembering Thurgood Marshall Why Clar?ence Thomas Ought to Be Ostracized The Politics of Black Respectability Policing Ra?cial Solidarity In each essay, Kennedy is mindful of com?plexity, ambivalence, and paradox, and he is always stirring and enlightening. Say It Loud! is a wide-ranging summa of Randall Kennedy?s thought on the realities and imaginaries of race in America "A gathering of essays by the Harvard legal scholar that explore all the cultural and historical issues of the past quarter century having to do with race and race relations in America. Randall Kennedy chronicles his reactions over the past quarter century to arguments, events, and people that have compelled him to put pen to paper. Three beliefs that are sometimes in tension with one another infuse these pages. First, a massive amount of cruel racial injustice continues to beset the United States of America. Second, there is much about which to be inspired when surveying the African American journey from slavery to freedom to engagement in practically every aspect of life in the United States. Third, an openness to complexity, paradox, and irony should attend any serious investigation of human affairs. Kennedy has tried to allow that sensibility ample leeway in the essays, prompting within himself surprise, ambivalence, and, on several occasions, a heartfelt need to express apology for prior oversights and mistaken judgments"-- Provided by the publisher