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We look at young black kids with a scowl on their face, walking a certain way down the block with their sweatpants dangling, however, with their hoodies on. And folks think that this is a show of power or a show of force. But I know, because I've been among those kids, it ultimately is fear.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
I write what I write in the way that I write it. I'm not being abstract, you know. I'm talking about something that, you know, is a part of my life.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
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The symbolic power of Barack Obama's presidency - that whiteness was no longer strong enough to prevent peons taking up residence in the castle - assaulted the most deeply rooted notions of white supremacy and instilled fear in its adherents and beneficiaries.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body - it is heritage.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
Abraham Lincoln is singular. Abraham Lincoln, before he was killed, stood up and, you know, for the first time from any sitting president, stood for the right for suffrage for African-American men who had served in the Civil War. And that's a limited suffrage, but it was quite radical at the time.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
To Trump, whiteness is neither notional nor symbolic but the very core of his power. In this, Trump is not singular. But whereas his forebears carried whiteness like an ancestral talisman, Trump cracked the glowing amulet open, releasing its eldritch energies.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
Life is always a problem. The fact that I'm on the radio saying that I don't necessarily see hope does not relieve people, does not relieve my son, does not relieve children, of the responsibility to struggle.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
I think human societies tend to be problematic.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
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As an African-American, we stand on the shoulders of people who fought despite not seeing victories in their lifetime or even in their children's lifetime or even in their grandchildren's lifetime. So fatalism isn't really an option.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
One of the things we tell ourselves as African-Americans is if we work hard, play by the rules, we do start back a little ways, but if we can be twice as good, somehow we can escape history and heritage and legacy.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
I think a lot about the private emotions of black people - what we feel and yet is rarely publicly expressed.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
Donald Trump did not appear by magic.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
Comic books have a long, fraught history with sexism.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
The ties between the Obama White House and the hip-hop community are genuine.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
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In Richard Wright, Dad found a literature of himself. He'd read Manchild in the Promised Land and Another Country, but from Wright he learned that there was an entire shadow canon, a tradition of writers who grabbed the pen, not out of leisure but to break the chain.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
I wouldn't argue that Mitt Romney is a white supremacist.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
I've seen, and liked, 'Insecure' and 'Atlanta.'
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
My belief is in the chaos of the world and that you have to find your peace within the chaos and that you still have to find some sort of mission.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
We have this long history of racism in this country, and as it happens, the criminal justice system has been perhaps the most prominent instrument for administering racism. But the racism doesn't actually come from the criminal justice system.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
I was born in West Baltimore, lived in a situation in which violence was everywhere.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
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Black people have been fighting for basic citizenship rights since the inception of the country.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
Forgiveness is a big part of - especially post-civil rights movement - is a big part of African-American Christianity, and I wasn't raised within the Christian church; I wasn't raised within any church.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
I don't know that white people need to be 'allies' so much as understand that any black struggle in America is ultimately a struggle for the large country. 'Ally' presumes a kind of distance that I am not sure exists.
Ta-Nehisi Coates -
The only people who usually have input on my writing are my wife and my editor. I'm not in conversation with anyone except the people I report on and the people I work with.
Ta-Nehisi Coates