Identity and Belonging: The Souls of a City / CityLab Paris

[@jasthomas7087]

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is brilliant. i appreciate her authenticity. it isnt patronizing, its honest and rare. we need more

[@chae7795]

Thank you Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie you inspire me so much!! We need more women like you! especially in africa! Nigeria all africa are proud of you.

[@esemenjume962]

I simply enjoyed every second of the interaction. Love from Cameroon

[@BrotherhoodWilliams]

Mr Coates with "liking tension" but recognizing the "luxury" to do so 💎💎💎

[@rogernsong7625]

I love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She speaks the truth as it is! France still colonizes the currency of more than 50% of African countries in 2018.

[@armandocassius829]

Sorry to be off topic but does anybody know of a tool to log back into an instagram account..? I somehow forgot the password. I appreciate any help you can offer me!

[@queenestherc-squared802]

Say it Chimamanda!!!! Love you so much ❤️

[@ncp4eva]

I love New York. It’s crowding. The multi-culturalness of it.

[@BrotherhoodWilliams]

I love he brought up Bmore -- the French connection is DEEP..... & HEAVY

[@SagesseNoir]

I am also from Baltimore, and I know his dad (Paul Coastes), a former leader of the Baltimore chapter of the Black Panther party

[@wacundirangu1661]

I'm trying to connect the Ta- Nehisi I read and the Ta-Nehisi on this couch, there is something I can't quite isolate. This made the whole interview appear restrained. I was expecting and looking forward to a great literature discussion, writers make me make sense..

[@asaasare220]

Hopefully you noticed the foundation on which was speaking in this interview “ … in France he loses the tension…” Hopefully our siblings in the US will put in perspective the African “attitude” in the US

[@madameclark3453]

The lady had an interesting perspective and she likes america.

[@Laura-sg6ss]

Wow🖤🖤🥰

[@LordOfElderon]

And I think I know why

[@5504berry]

What is missing is the historical effects of the French in Africa by Ta-Nehisi. He understands the American history of slavery but not the current monetary slavery of the Africans by the French. He admits this early in the conversation but lacks the knowledge to make a real evaluation.

[@madameclark3453]

5504berry he doesn’t understand slavery either. See Thomas sowell and Walter Williams. Blacks in america think they understand america but they have a narrative perspective and will not see the entire picture

[@5504berry]

@@madameclark3453 Wow, that is really tone deaf. So you are saying Whites understand America but Blacks don't? Try not to be so arrogant. African Americans are not monoliths by any means and i am sure living in America has granted a real understanding of what the country really is like verses the image the country portrays to the world.

[@SagesseNoir]

@@madameclark3453 It is Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams who do not understand slavery or America.

[@SagesseNoir]

@@5504berry madameclark promotes right wing black apologists who are basically apologists for the status quo. Sowell has even offered apologetics for colonialism

[@holcombas]

This interview feels fractured for some reason.

[@natetorres9948]

aH in C# I think it was that way do to the moderator's tone and kinda being condescending towards Chiamanda(For speaking criticism towards European countries racism)

[@nancya7289]

@@natetorres9948 That's not what I witnessed. I took TNC at his word when he said that there is much love and respect for the three woven through their "repartee." I took Chimimanda at her her word when she said that she was tired. I've also heard TNC state repeatedly that he doesn't feel comfortable talking about areas where he hasn't done extensive research. Finally, the two people of color are describing -- with unflinching candor and marked brevity -- the racist history of the French. To me it seems natural that writers of this magnitude would not necessarily feel super psyched to perform for a culture that has such a cruel colonial connection to many African countries.

[@wacundirangu1661]

Its gendered. ...the two men had some kind of "expectations" or "reservations"....I can't put it in words it's like dome kinda taming.

[@aminah61]

I love her writing and usually her interviews, however, something is amiss here and someone, thing or folks have pissed her off. Ta-Nehisi Coates is different and it may be his attitude about Paris and he is emboldened when folks compare him to Baldwin although the latter spoke out against the French and their racism towards the Algerians. You don't have to be a direct victim of racism or the other to understand its harmful effects and I was surprised that Ta-Nehisi emphasized how removed he was from the French-African experience because he didn't live it. The nuances of it all!

[@awhodothey]

I don't know, I think it is a consistent approach. The arational belief that the victims of a specific prejudice inherently understand, not only what it feels like, but the causes and solutions better than any impartial spectator, is a predominant assumption in the modern study of this subject.

[@aminah61]

Touché !

[@awhodothey]

Carolyn Moon It's an interesting question. I mean certainly the assumption is not always true, and i don't know of a good measure for when to assume it is...

[@tanniemolaliverpool7943]

Having lived for two years in Paris, as a person of colour with an EU passport, I totally agree with her analysis. Very perceptive.

[@BrotherhoodWilliams]

Great Moose Detective "arational"... i assume "inherent natural logic"? I appreciate the teaching

[@prieten49]

Why are an American and a Nigerian being interviewed in France by an American? I think American Blacks often have a positive view of Europeans because, during the worst of the American segregation years, many American entertainers were accepted with open arms by the European intelligentsia. Yes, yes, everyone knows about Josephine Baker. But I remember reading an article about a visit by Louis Armstrong to communist East Germany where the East Germans almost rioted to get tickets to see him. Armstrong commented to a journalist traveling with him that he was overwhelmed with the affection he encountered there. At press conferences, he often defended the East German society against attacks by the traveling journalists, contrasting the racism of the USA with his experience there. I confess I haven't read James Baldwin's book "Giovanni's Room" but there is a quote from it which goes "Americans should never come to Europe," she said, and tried to laugh and began to cry, "it means they never can be happy again. What’s the good of an American who isn’t happy? Happiness was all we had.” Correct me if I have totally misunderstood that passage, but it describes perfectly the naive idea most Americans have that they live in the "best country in the world." I have now lived overseas for twenty years, first in Germany and now in Japan. America is most definitely not the best country in the world. Right now, a wave of racism is sweeping Europe too. It is shocking because it is such a reversal of the tolerance that many American Blacks, Gays and progressives have experienced over the decades there.

[@awhodothey]

While it's certainly true that America is not necessarily the greatest country in the world (depending on what you do and value), i actually had the opposite experience in Europe. I think i grew up imagining that Europe was better than the US in a lot of ways, only to realize that my image was greatly exaggerated, that London, Paris and Berlin are not Europe anymore than California is the US...

[@prieten49]

Was there something about Europe you didn't like when you went there? What specifically disappointed you about Europe?

[@awhodothey]

Stuart M. No, i wouldn't say it was Europe. It was my image of Europe. I thought all of Europe would be, socially, the best of western Europe. I was surprised to see much of Europe dealing with all the same problems we have: the pre-refugee crisis homelessness really surprised me. But private medical expenses, education expenses, endemic theft and robbery, and sometimes outright poverty... I felt as though sexism may be more prevalent in southern and central Europe than in the US. I really didn't know anything about Europe, but i expected even the people to be more progressive.

[@prieten49]

There always is a tendency for people to think "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence." Maybe this was especially true for Black Americans who were living in hell on earth. You are right, Europe is a very big place with many countries, cultures and varying levels of prosperity. Although the formation of the European Union was supposed to usher in a more prosperous era with more equality for all regions, the going has been very rough. It has been very hard to shake off very narrow national interests in favor of the European concept. There are pockets of poverty and crime which have now become "mobile" thanks to the open borders. I too noticed the prevalence of more traditional roles for men and women in Europe. America is in some respects a trailblazer for women's and gay rights, although the recent revelations of the "me too" movement makes me question how deep these changes really are in America.

[@awhodothey]

Stuart M. Yep, grass is greener for sure, but i noticed Europeans didn't really think like that. A huge number of the young people i met in Europe told me that they hoped to go to school in the states, but they still had a negative view of American culture. I've since realized that Americans have always looked up to Europe, and some Europeans have long seen Americans as cultural rejects.

[@AZ-yy7bn]

I was in Paris in 2000. Air France and White Parisians in general were very rude to me.

[@madameclark3453]

AZ your american culture does not translate well

[@BrotherhoodWilliams]

4:30-4:42 🔥🔥🔥BURN lol

[@MH-et4bo]

Chimamanda holds a Nigerian passport. He holds a American passports. There is the difference.

[@assumity]

Interesting to watch two members of the American elite (Coates and Goldberg) who have lived their entire lives in large cities - rarely venturing outside of them except to fly to other large cities - apply the crudest and most inaccurate stereotypes and assumptions to people who live in rural areas, as if they know what the heck they're talking about. As someone who has lived on both sides of the urban/rural divide in America, I can assure you they do not. These are two individuals who have enjoyed immense success and experienced much privilege in their lives. Yet they talk about people who live in rural areas - who have enjoyed none of these things - as if they are the ones who somehow represent what's wrong with America. There is SO much they're getting wrong here.

[@abbylee4864]

This was kind of awkward...

[@abdullahimukhtar6728]

Always a fan of Chimamanda's but I think she's in the mood during this talk. "I don't have a life in America," seriously???!!

[@aneecia1376]

Abdullahi Mukhtar "I don't have that life" ... The country of your birth tends to be more noisy filled with family etc. However, your second country gives you a chance to listen to yourself through a different set of lenses; less distractions. I totally get what she is saying.

[@ellomirza]

These people are so privileged they are being fawned upon as they opine whether Paris London or New York inspire them more. If snl had balls this would make for a hilarious skit.

[@krystalthomas2336]

Chimamanda comes off a little patronizing

[@domenicming9551]

Maybe she's a first child. prob not on purpose

[@ip6229]

She is fifth out of six children.

[@domenicming9551]

Oh, then maybe she's just a jerk.

[@tanniemolaliverpool7943]

Having lived for two years in Paris, as a person of colour with an EU passport, I totally agree with her analysis. She is a fantastic truth teller and tells uncomfortable truths like they are.

[@MH-et4bo]

krystal thomas the men began by saying they were scared of her. Ridiculous