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.
TA-NEHISI COATESTo prevent enabling oppression, we demand that black people be twice as good.
More Ta-Nehisi Coates Quotes
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If George Washington crossing the Delaware matters, so must his ruthless pursuit of the runagate Oney Judge.
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I think, as a writer, I’m in my own head.
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Any time you have, you know, upwards of 90 percent of a demographic voting against somebody, that’s a statement.
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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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Never forget that we were enslaved in this country longer than we have been free.
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This feeling African-Americans have, this skepticism towards the police and the skepticism that the police show towards African-Americans is actually quite old. And it may be one of the most durable aspects of the relationship between black people and their country really in our history.
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Segregations, by which I mean people living in a certain area, was a planned system.
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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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I think the sad fact is, there’s a long history in this country at looking at African-American as subhuman.
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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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You can live in the world of myth and be taken seriously.
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Racism is, among other things.
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They’re right there waiting for it. A community of people who’ve been denied wealth, denied wealth-building opportunities, are right there. And the banks went right after them.
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Is the Jewish race thriftier than the Arab race?
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What I am telling you is that you do not need to know to love, and it is right that you feel it all in any moment. And it is right that you see it through–that you are amazed, then curious, then belligerent, then heartbroken, then numb. You have the right to all of it.
TA-NEHISI COATES