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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.

Ta-Nehisi Coates

[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.
TA-NEHISI COATES

Ability Frankly Gave Optimism People Thing Trust White
Talk about class and hope no one notices.
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Class Hope No Notice One Talk
Humans also tend to find community to be pleasurable, and within the boundaries of community relationships, words.
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Boundary Community Human Ironic Pleasurable Relationship Self Word
Reparations would mean the end of scarfing hot dogs on the Fourth of July while denying the facts of our heritage.
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Denying End Fact Heritage Mean Reparation Scarfing Talk
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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Acquisition Best Communication Knowledge Other People Writing
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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Democratizer Fact Great History Image Reconciling Self Yelling
An unsegregated America might see poverty, and all its effects, spread across the country with no particular bias toward skin color. Instead, the concentration of poverty has been paired with a concentration of melanin.
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Color Concentrate Country Effect Instead Melanin Paired Poverty Spreadma Cross
Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal.
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Country Equal Humdres Separate Slavery Two Year
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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After Believe Country Optimistic People Person President Running Won
You know, it felt like him reverting back to what was in his bones and that’s, you know, optimism and a deep belief in, you know, American institutions and the American people.
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Back Belief Bone Country Deep Institution Know Optimistic People Revert
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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Apart Black Deficit People Personal Responsibility Some
Racism is not merely a simplistic hatred. It is, more often, broad sympathy toward some and broader skepticism toward others.
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Broad Hatred Merely More Often Racism Simplist Sympathy Toward
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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Bridge Contradiction Country Felt Optimism People Peron Sincere
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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Always Between Condition Difference First Government Head Many Neighbourhood Place Responsible Schmo Way
The Knowledge Rule 2080: From maggots to men, the world is a corner bully.
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Bully Corner Knowledge Men Rule World
I want to be really, really clear about this. It doesn’t mean that everyone or even the majority of people who voted for Donald Trump are racist or white supremacists or anything like that. But what it means is that it’s not a mistake that Trump began his campaign with birthersism .
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Campaign Country Dumb Few Folk History Idiot Lot Mean Mistake Present White

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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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.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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