What I’m talking about is a national reckoning that would lead to spiritual renewal.
TA-NEHISI COATESMore 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.
More Ta-Nehisi Coates Quotes
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What it is is that Barack Obama was raised by a white mother and two white grandparents who, A, told him he was black and that there was nothing wrong with being black.
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These were the days when I powerfully believed Breyers and Entenmann’s to be pioneers in the field of antidepressants.
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Never forget that for 250 years black people were born into chains-whole generations followed by more generations who knew nothing but chains.
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The symbolism was in – and this sounds really, really small, but it’s actually big for African-Americans – the symbolism was not in being an embarrassment, but to being a figure that folks were actually proud of.
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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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The greatest reward of this constant interrogation, confrontation with the brutality of my country, is that it has freed me from hosts and myths.
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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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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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Talk about class and hope no one notices.
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Often ironic and self-deprecating – are always spoken that take on other meanings when uttered by others.
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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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[E]mpathy – not squishy self-serving conflict avoidance – is the hand-maiden, not the enemy, of reason and intellectual inquiry.
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The essence of American racism is disrespect.
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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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When you have a policy of making sure that African Americans cannot build wealth, of plundering African American communities of wealth.
TA-NEHISI COATES