In this article I contend that we cannot divorce affirmative action from issues about race and racism. Further, debates on affirmative action have to acknowledge the power of words/concepts/definitions and how they can be constructed and used for the purposes of domination or liberation. I argue that, in debating affirmative action, we have to…

Analyzes Kennedy's speech before an ideologically hostile college audience and, particularly, his use of the question-and-answer session that followed the speech as a means of reinforcing his arguments and promulgating his value hierarchy. (PD)