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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.

A great stroke for racial equality

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Aug 13 2008, 4:47 PM ET Comment

It's sick, but this comment really made my day:

Thanks Mr. Coates, but white people don't need you to tell us what we think.
This is how I know we will reach the Promised Land. I now have the ability to sit on my living room couch and define millions of people--and then shut off all comments if I choose too. Does no one see the beauty here? Put differently, equality doesn't mean that black bloggers will be smarter than white bloggers, it means that we're capable of being just as sloppy. For the record the commenter is probably right. I tried qualifying the point with "a lot of,"--not most, not all. But that said I really have no way of quantifying it. It's just me sitting back playing racial psychologist. Sound familiar at all? No?



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