I have had the pleasure of the last several months to cover conferences on John Brown, Constance Baker Motely,Prison Conditions, Neo Slavery and to hear Michael Eric Dyson and Nikki Giovanni. So my head is full of perspectives about race-color-class in America, past and present. To safely sit in yesterday and hear Harvard and Yale Law professors and Yale Law Schoo alums, Randall Kennedy and Stephen Carter discuss anything is a cerebral joy. They shared insight and passion regarding the Age of Obama, group and race identity, the operative meaning of democracy, ethnic and racial voting behavior, and much more. They reflected and thought out loud giving the students and faculty members in attendance the benefit of hearing and even interjecting questions, theories and personal stories. In the backdrop of the 3/5ths clause, the Missouri Compromise, Dredd Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Ed,Clarence Thomas and Lani Guinier these two very accomplished minds rendered opinions worthy of a national broadcast. In the current moment of tea pot boiling,global warming, documented increase in hate groups, economic quagmire and acknowledged fissures in Washington , the earth seems to be shaking and boiling beyond Chile and Haiti. As your time permits you might find their mental deliberations instructive and it was again my pleasure to sit in!
photo slide show http://www.slide.com/r/WEM16QNjyj_B7KHS8T_0v1fvkaVyTBpW?previous_view=lt_embedded_url
part 2 (with very brief intro remarks repeated by Prof Kennedy, from first segment, and then moving to second excerpt)
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