Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates is an American writer, journalist, and educator. Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic, where he writes about cultural, social and political issues, particularly as they regard African-Americans. Coates has worked for The Village Voice, Washington City Paper, and Time. He has contributed to The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Washington Monthly, O, and other publications. In 2008 he published a memoir, The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth30 September 1975
CountryUnited States of America
I feel some need to represent where I'm from. But ultimately, I think my only real responsibility is to - as much as possible - interrogate my own truths. This is to say not merely writing what I think is true, but using the writing to turn that alleged truth over and over, to stress-test it, in the aim of producing something readable.
I enjoy the challenge of trying to say things beautifully. The message is secondary in that sense. Obviously, I have something that I want to say that's very, very important to me - but the process of actually crafting it is essential.
We look at young black kids with a scowl on their face, walking a certain way down the block with their sweatpants dangling, however, with their hoodies on. And folks think that this is a show of power or a show of force. But I know, because I've been among those kids, it ultimately is fear.
If I wrote a Jewish superhero, he'd have awesome time-traveling powers. I'd call him Doctorow.
I'm not going to break up my family, not for a book.
I was born in West Baltimore, lived in a situation in which violence was everywhere.
I was about 13 or 14 when I heard Malcolm X's speech 'Message to the Grass Roots.'
I think riots happen when communities are under pressure for long periods of time. That's not a mistake.
I think a lot about the private emotions of black people - what we feel and yet is rarely publicly expressed.
I love America the way I love my family - I was born into it. And there's no escape out of it.
I just think that if one is going to preach nonviolence and one is going to advocate for nonviolence, one's standard should be consistent.
I feel sorry for people who only know comic books through movies. I really do.
I do understand how hate eats at the soul and how to purge yourself of hate.
For me, my writing benefits from my experience.