I think the president [Barack Obama] adopted some of that same language, but took it into the White House.
TA-NEHISI COATESThirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
More Ta-Nehisi Coates Quotes
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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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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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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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What I’m talking about is more than recompense for past injustices-more than a handout, a payoff, hush money, or a reluctant bribe.
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The essence of American racism is disrespect.
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I think, as a writer, I’m in my own head.
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Racism is, among other things.
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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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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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Better you knuckle up and go for yours than have to bow your head and tuck your chain.
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The unearned skepticism of one group of humans joined to the unearned sympathy for another.
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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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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.
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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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What I’m talking about is a national reckoning that would lead to spiritual renewal.
TA-NEHISI COATES