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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.

This is real talk

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Dec 5 2008, 11:07 AM ET Comment

This summer, blogger Brian Beutler was shot. Brian is well-known amongst the DC-based blogging community. I'm in New York, and didn't know him, but I read about what happened at Megan's, Matt's and a couple other blogs. I wrote this in response, basically trying to understand white fear of black crime. As it turns out, Brian was a bad fit for the post, but it still led to the following bloggingheads, which was very enlightening for me.

As always, if you're here to simply flog some shit you already think, have thought for five years, and will probably think five years from now, do yourself a favor and have a shot of Jack before you comment. Let's not rehash the 90s. Again.



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