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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

Tom Shales says I should be watching "Black In America"

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Jul 24 2008, 12:30 PM ET Comment

But I really don't think so. It's true I haven't seen a frame of it. But I just think that any major media company that tries to capture some 30 million people in a news special will simply fail. I know Shales likes it, but I have no faith that these guys can deal with something this nuanced.I simply can't sit back and watch these fools act like most black people are poor--when they are not--and try to sum us all up under episodes like "The Black Woman & Family" or "The Black Man." I take it as a bad sign that these guys basically got on the 2-3 train and took a 30-minute ride Uptown to go and do their reporting. Yes I know don't knock it until you try it. But today I'm violating.



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