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
African Americans are one of the oldest ethnic groups in this country. We been here since the beginning. Before the beginning.
Everybody thinks that an important book has to be a big, long book.
For me, my writing benefits from my experience.
I do understand how hate eats at the soul and how to purge yourself of hate.
I feel sorry for people who only know comic books through movies. I really do.
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 love America the way I love my family - I was born into it. And there's no escape out of it.
I think a lot about the private emotions of black people - what we feel and yet is rarely publicly expressed.
I think riots happen when communities are under pressure for long periods of time. That's not a mistake.
I was about 13 or 14 when I heard Malcolm X's speech 'Message to the Grass Roots.'
I was born in West Baltimore, lived in a situation in which violence was everywhere.
I'm not going to break up my family, not for a book.
If I wrote a Jewish superhero, he'd have awesome time-traveling powers. I'd call him Doctorow.
When people who are not black are interested in what I do, frankly, I'm always surprised. I don't know if it's my low expectations for white people or what.