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.
TA-NEHISI COATESI think the president [Barack Obama] adopted some of that same language, but took it into the White House.
More Ta-Nehisi Coates Quotes
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I think there’s a sort of, you know, very thin way of reading this that says, well, Barack Obama is biracial thus that gives him some understanding of both white America and black America, but that’s not really it.
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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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Talk about class and hope no one notices.
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You don’t just get the good part. You get the bad part, too. You get all of it.
TA-NEHISI COATES -
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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Reparations would mean the end of scarfing hot dogs on the Fourth of July while denying the facts of our heritage.
TA-NEHISI COATES -
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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Humans also tend to find community to be pleasurable, and within the boundaries of community relationships, words.
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Barack Obama is the president of the United States of America.
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I did not know then that this is what life is – just when you master the geometry of one world, it slips away, and suddenly again, you’re swarmed by strange shapes and impossible angles.
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The essence of American racism is disrespect.
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Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
TA-NEHISI COATES -
Is the Jewish race thriftier than the Arab race?
TA-NEHISI COATES -
The progressive approach to policy which directly addresses the effects of white supremacy is simple.
TA-NEHISI COATES
![Ta-Nehisi Coates Quote - I think the president [Barack Obama] adopted some of that same language, but took it into the White House.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/i-think-the-president-barack-obama-adopted-some-of.jpg)
![Ta-Nehisi Coates Quote - I think the president [Barack Obama] adopted some of that same language, but took it into the White House.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/grey-i-think-the-president-barack-obama-adopt.jpg)
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![Ta-Nehisi Coates Quote - I think the president [Barack Obama] adopted some of that same language, but took it into the White House.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/brown-i-think-the-president-barack-obama-adopt.jpg)
![Ta-Nehisi Coates Quote - I think the president [Barack Obama] adopted some of that same language, but took it into the White House.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/white-i-think-the-president-barack-obama-adopt.jpg)

