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.
TA-NEHISI COATESI’m asking you as an American to see all of the freedoms that you enjoy and see how they are rooted in things that the country you belong to condoned or actively participated in the past.
More Ta-Nehisi Coates Quotes
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Is the Jewish race thriftier than the Arab race?
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The standard progressive approach of the moment is to mix color-conscious moral invective with color-blind public policy.
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What sets black people apart is not some deficit in personal responsibility. It’s the weight on our shoulders. That is what’s actually different. We have the weight and burden of history.
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Just because you came here in 1880, 1950, whenever, you became an American. You get to celebrate July 4th like every other American.
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To prevent verifying stereotypes, we pledge to never eat a slice a watermelon in front of white people.
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I think President [Barack] Obama deeply underestimated the force of white supremacy in American life.
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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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Talk about class and hope no one notices.
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I am not asking you as a white person to see yourself as an enslaver.
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I mean, the president, you know, at one point when he was campaigning said I believe that Donald Trump was not qualified to run a 7-Eleven.
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I think the president [Barack Obama] adopted some of that same language, but took it into the White House.
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Humans also tend to find community to be pleasurable, and within the boundaries of community relationships, words.
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You don’t just get the good part. You get the bad part, too. You get all of it.
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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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You can live in the world of myth and be taken seriously.
TA-NEHISI COATES