Ta-Nehisi Coates in conversation with Chris Jackson | One World Big Ideas Night

[@lorenzoalvarez7254]

"it doesn't have to be this way - we made it this way" - profound beyond measure - going to read both his book AND Edmund Morgan's because of that comment. thank you!

[@RB-oz1mm]

My favorite author. He has changed my concept of history (much as Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz has), and he has such a strong voice, poetry, research ability, and conviction as I have never read before. So grateful!

[@mahanmark0]

Wow, he blows me away every time I hear him speak or read his work. He's one of the great intellectuals of today and tomorrow. Just reading the comments below it's apparent who is white, those folks full of themselves who can't and won't listen, don't care and refuse to be touched by this history and this present. Well, I'm white and I think this man is RIGHT. 100% right.

[@NSResponder]

Bullshit. He's not an intellectual at all, he's just a glib little guilt-peddler. Jordan Peterson is an intellectual, and Coates is snotty little prick who smears him for clickbait.

[@missmattie1462]

Mark Mahan, thank you. I agree. 💯.

[@feavouglan4427]

I love that he's inspired by hip hop!!!

[@angelamarie5978]

He's an amazing writer and intellectual. I look forward to reading all of your books. It feels like the embodiment of James Baldwin the way you break down whiteness not in the physical since but as an institution. I enjoy listening to you b/c your real.

[@ogyaherd9667]

amazing that his realization of the construct of race from the development of virginia law enactments echoes the earlier propositions & presentations of claude anderson! always knew he (dr anderson) had uncovered something startling!

[@SevenRiderAirForce]

I watched half an hour and he hasn't said much yet. He touched on race being socially constructed, but he didn't really go into anything. Is there anything in the remaining 40 minutes?

[@x-man9473]

SevenRiderAirForce. You have to watch his other videos or read his book between the world and me. He usually explains in detail when the book is coming out. This is a year after the book came out. He is just reflecting the book to people who read it.

[@SevenRiderAirForce]

Okay I'll add it to my list. I tried watching some other videos but I can't find any where he talks about things concretely. He mentioned reparations in one, but when he was asked in the Q&A what it would look like, he didn't have an answer. He's popular, so I'm trying to find out what the substance is, because so far it just seems like "things were bad, they're still not the best, so we should do better. I have a vague plan and a positive attitude." Okay, well, go on. Anywho, I'll try reading the book.

[@tomasc7621]

"I'm NOT White! I'm Jew.Ish!"

[@dimitrioskantakouzinos8590]

WE WUZ EIGHT YEARS IN POWER!

[@Noodles1771]

I find it corny Coates took the title of his book from a Talib Kweli album. Further Coates' emphasis on identity to the exclusion of class, and capitalism underscores the shallowness of his knowledge and intellect. The notion that whiteness only existed with the dehumanization of black people ignores that class precedes race. The Irish or the Scottish didn't need a change in pigment to be ghettoized by the English. Otherness is a construct that can be based on any number of qualities color among them. Every time I see one of these videos with Coates it's never a real interrogation of his ideas, it's always an intoxicated romanticized rambling of anecdotes, and 'what it must be like to have written this, the response, process etc etc.' In other words vapid self-promotion.

[@dsmith6035]

Except he's not talking about the notion of "othering" or noting/noticing difference(s) as a universally human phenomena. He's essentially saying that race played a primary role in the bolstering of wealth in this country and that it was important to make a distinction between a White Indentured Servant and a Black slave - especially so that their treatment (the treatment of the slave) was acceptable among those who might, otherwise, oppose. Race, in America, is different than in many other places with respect to the history and role it's played/is playing. Additionally, he's writing and speaking from a Black persoective...so this notion that if he's going to talk about race, he has to do it from a White person's perspective is both ridiculous and NOT possible. If you're a non-White person in this country social class and race are inextricably tied together...and it all has root in our specific treatment of race in Anerica.

[@maxs9742]

racist

[@Critic_number_4]

he's not racist he's just angry and ill-informed.