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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.

One criticism of Obama's speech and race

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Aug 29 2008, 12:22 PM ET Comment

There was one person who I wanted to hear from yesterday, even more than John Lewis--Joseph Lowery. He is not only the oldest link to Martin Luther King, he was the first of the old-guard cats to really see what Obama could be. While Andy Young was joking about Bill Clinton being blacker than Obama, and Jesse was complaining that Barack was running his campaign like he was white, while scared Negroes were fretting that Obama would ruin the Democratic Party, Joseph Lowery--in his mid-80s mind you--was dropping it on fools like this. Talk about never scared..




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