Never forget that we were enslaved in this country longer than we have been free.
TA-NEHISI COATESThe essence of American racism is disrespect.
More Ta-Nehisi Coates Quotes
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More specifically, Barack Obama is the president of a congenitally racist country, erected upon the plunder of life, liberty, labor, and land. This plunder has not been exclusive to black people.
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Reparations would mean the end of yelling “patriotism” while waving a Confederate flag. Reparations would mean a revolution of the American consciousness, a reconciling of our self-image as the great democratizer with the facts of our history.
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All you need to understand is that the officer carries with him the power of the American state and the weight of an American legacy.
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With segregation, with the isolation of the injured and the robbed, comes the concentration of disadvantage.
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My mom used to tell me, I can’t use this phrase on the radio – but basically don’t be one of those dudes hanging on the corner.
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And they necessitate that of the bodies destroyed every year, some wild and disproportionate number of them will be black.
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[Winning the White House was an achievement], but as an African-American, [Barack Obama], I think the symbolism is in how he conducted himself.
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It was a week after Donald Trump had won. And initially he was still optimistic. He felt that things would be OK ultimately. And I have to tell you, this is the area where, you know, I see, you know, some degree of contradiction.
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The unearned skepticism of one group of humans joined to the unearned sympathy for another.
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I think President [Barack] Obama deeply underestimated the force of white supremacy in American life.
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I think, as a writer, I’m in my own head.
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Giving opportunities to other people, it’s only right that you might want to, you know, pay that back.
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I think the sad fact is, there’s a long history in this country at looking at African-American as subhuman.
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And I think, like, there’s a crucial difference between being, you know, Joe Schmo in the neighborhood and being the head, you know, of the government that, you know, in many ways is largely responsible for those conditions in the first place.
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An America that looks away is ignoring not just the sins of the past but the sins of the present and the certain sins of the future.
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