Skip Navigation
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.

Barack Obama hasn't appointed enough people named Ta-Nehisi

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Jan 28 2009, 2:00 PM ET Comment

Or another people who attended HBCUs. Ugh. Jelani on the silly-ass Negro Nitpicking Sweepstakes:

A close second in the Negro Nitpicking Sweepstakes came the critique that Michelle Obama was wrong for not wearing at least one black designer on inauguration day. Um... she wore designs by a Latina and an Asian American -- tell me we're not back to the idiot days of the Obamas having to prove they're down for black folk. More importantly, her husband just appointed African Americans as UN Ambassador and ATTORNEY GENERAL. Personally, I think black America stands to benefit more from a top down opposition to racial profiling than either Obama checking off to-dos on this byzantine blackness list.

Here is a useful bit of information that we might reflect upon during the next four years: Barack Obama is the President, not the host of Soul Train.




Presented by

More at The Atlantic

Ray Bradbury on Facing Rejection ... and Being Inspired by Snoopy Ray Bradbury on Facing Rejection and Snoopy
Patrick Fitzgerald, Transcendent Federal Prosecutor, Steps Down Patrick Fitzgerald, Transcendent Federal Prosecutor, Steps Down
Infographic: A Fast Food Burger Is 3 Times Larger Now Than in The 1950s A Fast Food Burger Is 3 Times Larger Now Than in The 1950s
The Sorry Six-Day History of Facebook, Inc: A Glitch, a Snitch, and a Tumble The Sorry Six-Day History of Facebook, Inc.
Egypt Votes: A Primer on the Arab World's First Free Presidential Election What's Next for Egypt, After Today's Historic Vote?

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register.
blog comments powered by Disqus
View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

One Year Since the Joplin Tornado

May 23, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

Ta-Nehisi Coates
from the Magazine

Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an Atlantic senior editor.

Fade to White

A filmmaker maps Austin’s shifting ethnic landscape.

The Legacy of Malcolm X

Why his vision lives on in Barack Obama