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Last year, the incomparable writer, Ta-Nehisi Coates, went before the House to argue the case for reparations.
He held the mirror up to America and showed its many contraditions, while directly addressing M*tch McConnell’s racist remarks on the matter.
Short story below.
He held the mirror up to America and showed its many contraditions, while directly addressing M*tch McConnell’s racist remarks on the matter.
Short story below.
Ta-Nehisi Coates was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 30, 1975. His family would be a driving force in his want to become a writer, and shape his view of the world around him.
His father, Paul Coates, served in Vietnam, had been a part of the Black Panther Party, published written work, and workes as a librarian. His mother was a powerful and dedicated school teacher. Both pushed him to love the written word and the world they could open him up to.
Coates grew up in West Baltimore in the midst of the Crack Crisis. Community was instilled in him at a very early age, as it is for so many who grow up in neighborhoods that rely on one another to get to tomorrow.
After graduating from Woodlawn High School, Coates decided to attend the prestigious and historic Howard Univeristy in Washington, DC. But after 5 years, he chose to leave and pursue his passion—journalism.
Coates landed his first journalism gig at The Washington City Paper. After hitting the ground running he landed other writing positions at Time, The Village Voice, and @PhillyWeekly.
In 2008, Coates published his first book titled, “The Beautful Struggle”. This incredibly vivid memoir looks at his childhood in West Baltimore, the dynamics of his neighborhood, and his relationship with his father. https://bookshop.org/books/the-beautiful-struggle-a-memoir/9780385527460
It was @TheAtlantic that Coates found a home and began showing the world how special his writing and point of view was. Pieces like, “Fear of a Black President,” and “The Case For Reparations” separated him from the rest as his truth jumped off the pages. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/09/fear-of-a-black-president/309064/
“The Case for Reparations” is Coates’ heavy and wholistic view of reparations not only being a repayment for years of brutal and sadistic slave labor, but also a step to America becoming somewhat whole as its moral debt continues to compound. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/361631/
Coates has won various honors and has been nominated for many awards but the publishing of his second book in 2015 titled, “Between the World and Me” put him in the larger conversation and transformed him into what some would call a generational talent. https://bookshop.org/books/between-the-world-and-me/9780812993547
It’s been said that an advanced copy was sent to the QUEEN and peerless author Toni Morrison, who compared Coates to James Baldwin and gave him her blessing. For Coates, the acclaim was appreciated but also difficult to adjust to. Around this time he left social media.
So, when Senator Mitch McConnell addressed reparations in such a callous and dismissive way; Coates, already having put the time, energy, and words into the fight, wrote a speech to read in front of the House that moves the soul as much as any Pastor can on Sunday morning.
Ta-Nehisi Coates: the son of a Black Panther and school teacher, the bearer of a name that derives from a an ancient Egyptian language meaning “Nubia”, the writer who looked America right in its eyes and told it about itself, addressed the House on reparations.
Coates tallies the books and points his curser to enslaved people making up the largest single “asset” in America by 1836. Totally more than all of America’s other assets combined. But, when the Civil War was over and right could have been done, America thought differently.
He continues to lay out and address majority leader McConnell as he said he wasn’t alive and “no one” is currently alive to be held accountable for slavery, but he was alive for a reign of terror held by this country that rivals no other industrialized nation in the world.
What Coates does so well is grab the racist, deplorable, disgusting button that McConnell pressed, and hold it up for all to see. McConnell may not have been alive then, but he’s seen many actions on behalf of a democracy that contradicts what this country supposedly stands for.
Coates closes:
“...if Thomas Jefferson matters—so does Sallie Hemings...if D-Day matters—so does Black Wallstreet...because the question really is not whether we will be tied to the somethings of our past, but whether we are courageous enough to be tied to the whole of them.
“...if Thomas Jefferson matters—so does Sallie Hemings...if D-Day matters—so does Black Wallstreet...because the question really is not whether we will be tied to the somethings of our past, but whether we are courageous enough to be tied to the whole of them.
For all of the descendants of enslaved people, Coates gives a voice, a face, a name, and a beauty that transcends generations. Though the fight for reparations is far from over, it is in great hands and so is the future of literature.
Ta-Nehisi Coates is currently a professor at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Insititute. He also just recently released his debut novel titled, “The Wind Dancer”.
We must support OUR thinkers and storytellers! https://bookshop.org/books/the-water-dancer/9780399590597
We must support OUR thinkers and storytellers! https://bookshop.org/books/the-water-dancer/9780399590597
