Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
TA-NEHISI COATESAn 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.
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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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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And I think that’s reflected in the fact that, when we have problems that really are problems of employment, that are really problems of mental health, that are really problems of drugs, our answer is the police.
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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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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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Giving opportunities to other people, it’s only right that you might want to, you know, pay that back.
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You can live in the world of myth and be taken seriously.
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[Donald Trump] went on to, you know, otherize Muslims, otherize Latinos, otherize women, that he built out from that. And it can be true that a unique, you know, individual like Barack Obama can succeed in spite of that and still be the case that that force is quite, quite strong.
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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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Never forget that we were enslaved in this country longer than we have been free.
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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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When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse.
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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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With segregation, with the isolation of the injured and the robbed, comes the concentration of disadvantage.
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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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