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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.

Favorite clip of MLK

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Aug 29 2008, 3:06 PM ET Comment

UPDATE: Bumped for justice. Sorry I watched this again just. It's always incredible. He almost fades away at the end. The word is that he was so exhausted that he almost fainted when he walked back. If you look, you can see someone (maybe Abernathy?) catch him as he falls. Is it wrong that I thought of Jordan falling into the arms of Pippen in the "flu-game?" Obviously not the same. Anyway, this clip is about courage, and this was the clip that convinced--as a very young Malcolmite--of the courage of nonviolence, and the power of the moral high ground. MLK should be on this country's currency. He is, as far as I am concerned, the most important non-president in American history. He is the founding father of modern American.

Seems appropriate. I've always loved this, makes me choke up whenever I see it. What? You were expecting Malcolm's "Ballot or the Bullet?" It's not that sort of night...



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