I’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.
TA-NEHISI COATESHumans also tend to find community to be pleasurable, and within the boundaries of community relationships, words.
More Ta-Nehisi Coates Quotes
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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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[Grew up in Hawaii] that gave [Barack Obama] a kind of optimism, an ability to see things, you know, and frankly, an ability to trust, you know, in his fellow, you know, white countrymen in a way that I, for instance, you know, and the vast majority of black people I know never really could.
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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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When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse.
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What I’m talking about is a national reckoning that would lead to spiritual renewal.
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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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[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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I would flip this the other way and say over 90 percent of African-Americans voted against Donald Trump.
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Racism is not merely a simplistic hatred. It is, more often, broad sympathy toward some and broader skepticism toward others.
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The best part of writing is not the communication of knowledge to other people, but the acquisition and synthesizing of knowledge for oneself.
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I think President [Barack] Obama deeply underestimated the force of white supremacy in American life.
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I don’t know how you bridge that contradiction, but I felt that Barack Obama was sincere. It didn’t feel like a line to me.
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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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The greatest reward of this constant interrogation, confrontation with the brutality of my country, is that it has freed me from hosts and myths.
TA-NEHISI COATES