Has Thurgood evolved since it debuted in New York during the most recent presidential campaign?
George [Stevens] tells me Thurgood was one of Barack Obama’s inspirations, because he was a lawyer and one of the greatest legal minds of the 20th century. So to get the opportunity to espouse the views of Thurgood Marshall and our democratic way of life, the promise of our country, the power of our Constitution, all of these things … I felt [when first performing Thurgood] that in some small way I was making my contribution to what we’ve seen become manifest in the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president. Will [Obama’s election] affect how I perform it [at the Kennedy Center]? I’m not sure exactly, but I look forward to finding out. And I hope and pray that I get the opportunity and the honor to perform this piece for the president and his wife as a way of saying thank you to them for all that they do. What do you think Justice Marshall, who died in 1993, might say about President Obama’s election? He would be very pleased. He’d also have some questions. He’d say: It’s long ove
