Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic

Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Atlantic

Santa Rosa de Viterbo, SP, Brazil

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Recent:
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Past:
  • The Atlantic

Past articles by Ta-Nehisi:

I’m Not Black, I’m Kanye

Kanye West wants freedom—white freedom. → Read More

Why I'm Writing Captain America

Two years ago I began taking up the childhood dream of writing comics. To say it is more difficult than it looks is to commit oneself to criminal understatement. Writers don’t write comics so much as they draw them with words. Everything has to be shown, a fact I knew going into the work, but could not truly know until I had actually done it. For two years I’ve lived in the world of Wakanda,… → Read More

Five Books to Make You Less Stupid About the Civil War

On Monday, the retired four-star general and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly asserted that “the lack of an ability to compromise lead to the Civil War.” This was an incredibly stupid thing to say. Worse, it built on a long tradition of endorsing stupidity in hopes of making Americans stupid about their own history. Stupid enjoys an unfortunate place in the highest ranks of American… → Read More

It Was No Compliment to Call Bill Clinton 'The First Black President'

In 1998, Toni Morrison wrote a comment for The New Yorker arguing that “white skin notwithstanding, this is our first black President. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children’s lifetime.” Last week the New York Times, implicitly cited Morrison’s piece, and claimed the author was giving Clinton “a compliment.” This interpretation of Morrison’s claim is as… → Read More

Civil-Rights Protests Have Never Been Popular

Activists can’t persuade their contemporaries—they’re aiming at the next generation. → Read More

‘It’s Impossible to Imagine Trump Without the Force of Whiteness'

Ta-Nehisi Coates explores how the 2016 election was a reaction to Obama’s presidency. → Read More

Donald Trump Is the First White President

The foundation of Donald Trump’s presidency is the negation of Barack Obama’s legacy. → Read More

Don't Give HBO's 'Confederate' the Benefit of the Doubt

HBO’s Confederate takes as its premise an ugly truth that black Americans are forced to live every day: What if the Confederacy wasn’t wholly defeated? → Read More

President Barack Obama Talks About Being a Symbol, Getting Criticism, and the Audacity of Hope

The former president explains what it’s like to be both a person and a symbol. → Read More

‘Surprised Like Everybody Else’: Obama on the Election of Donald Trump

The fourth in a series of conversations between the president and Ta-Nehisi Coates → Read More

‘Better Is Good’: Obama on Reparations, Civil Rights, and the Art of the Possible

The second in a series of interviews between Ta-Nehisi Coates and the president → Read More

'The Filter ... Is Powerful': Obama on Race, Media, and What It Took to Win

The first in a series of interviews between Ta-Nehisi Coates and the president. → Read More

My President Was Black

A history of the first African American White House—and of what came next → Read More

The Making of a Black President

In a short animation, Barack Obama speaks with Ta-Nehisi Coates about his road to the White House. → Read More

On the Right to Know Everything

“Newsworthy,” a term that could be applied to everything from Watergate to sex tapes to now the unmasking of novelist Elena Ferrante, lacks the moral force of claiming to act on behalf of the presumed rights of the public. → Read More

Why the Media Didn't Bother to Verify if Hillary Clinton's Remark About Half of Donald Trump's Supporters Being 'Deplorable' Was True

Political reporters were taken aback by Hillary Clinton’s charge that half of Trump’s supporters are prejudiced. Few bothered to investigate the claim itself. → Read More

What O. J. Simpson’s Acquittal Meant to Black People

His great accomplishment was to be indicted for a crime and then receive the kind of treatment typically reserved for rich white guys. → Read More

Hillary Clinton Is Taking Heat For Saying Half of Donald Trump’s Supporters Are Prejudiced, But Her Numbers Are Just Too Low

Clinton said half of Donald Trump’s supporters were prejudiced. If anything, her numbers are too low. → Read More

Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Near Certainty of Anti-Police Violence

By ignoring illegitimate policing, America has also failed to address the danger this illegitimacy poses to those who must do the policing. → Read More

The Near Certainty of Anti-Police Violence

By ignoring illegitimate policing, America has also failed to address the danger this illegitimacy poses to those who must do the policing. → Read More