This is painful to watch

Ta-Nehisi Coates Dec 23 2008, 7:05 PM ET

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In what world must a black gay man debate civil rights a man who believes blacks should be thankful they were slaves, and once advised Nixon to link an opponent to "New York Jewish money?"

Capehart went for his, did his best, and somehow managed to not catch a case. But my heart broke watching this. I am feeling like Carolyn Forche in "Return." "It is not your right to feel powerless," she says in that piece. "Better people than you were powerless."

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Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues. 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.

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