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And they necessitate that of the bodies destroyed every year, some wild and disproportionate number of them will be black.

Ta-Nehisi Coates

I was a black boy at the height of the crack era, which meant that my instructors pitched education as the border between those who would prosper in America, and those who would be fed to the great hydra of prison, teenage pregnancy and murder.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Between Black Border Boy Crack Education Era Eye Great Height Hydra Instructor Murder Pitch Pregnancy Prison Teenage
The best part of writing is not the communication of knowledge to other people, but the acquisition and synthesizing of knowledge for oneself.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Acquisition Best Communication Knowledge Other People Writing
The essence of American racism is disrespect.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Country Disrespect Essence Racism
Part of that is ordinary African-Americans, you come out of your house and you see the conditions in your neighborhood and you see, folks in your neighborhood doing certain things that, are irresponsible.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Condition Drinking Folk Home House Morning Neighbourhood Ordinary Country Part See
And I think that’s reflected in the fact that, when we have problems that really are problems of employment, that are really problems of mental health, that are really problems of drugs, our answer is the police.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Answer Employment Fact Health Poice Problem Really Reflect
It was made that way. And what you have is a system in which people are there to be exploited.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Exploiter Made People Some
They’re right there waiting for it. A community of people who’ve been denied wealth, denied wealth-building opportunities, are right there. And the banks went right after them.
TA-NEHISI COATES

After Bank Community Denied Opportunities People Right Wait Wealth
The standard progressive approach of the moment is to mix color-conscious moral invective with color-blind public policy.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Approach Blind Color Conscious Invective Moment Moral Policy Progressive Public Standard
The unearned skepticism of one group of humans joined to the unearned sympathy for another.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Another Group Human Join One Skepticism Sympathy Unlearn
I would flip this the other way and say over 90 percent of African-Americans voted against Donald Trump.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Against Ay Country Ninty Other Over Percent Person President Way
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 COATES

Democratizer Fact Great History Image Reconciling Self Yelling
What I am telling you is that you do not need to know to love, and it is right that you feel it all in any moment. And it is right that you see it through–that you are amazed, then curious, then belligerent, then heartbroken, then numb. You have the right to all of it.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Feel Heartbroken Know Moment Need Right Tell
That’s not an accident that Donald Trump didn’t begin with, say, trade or jobs or anything, that he actually began by otherizing the first African-American president of the United States.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Accident Actually Anything Begin Country First Job People Peron President Trade
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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Black Country Legacy Need Numbers Offer Power State Understand Weight Year
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.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Certain Future Ignore Just Look Past Present Sin
This feeling African-Americans have, this skepticism towards the police and the skepticism that the police show towards African-Americans is actually quite old. And it may be one of the most durable aspects of the relationship between black people and their country really in our history.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Country Feel Many People Person Police Skepticism Towards

And they necessitate that of the bodies destroyed every year, some wild and disproportionate number of them will be black.

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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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Popular Authors

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