Race & Justice

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: A Conversation With Author Ta-Nehisi Coates


As we celebrate Dr. King’s day and contemplate all that he accomplished
and all that remains to be done, we thought you’d like to listen to one of today’s most important voices on the issue of race in America, Ta-Nehisi Coates.

His columns at the Atlantic Magazine are some of the smartest contemporary pieces of writing on the issue of race—or of any kind, really—and also some of the most challenging.

His 2015 memoir, Between the World and Me, is written in the form of a six-part letter to his teenage son, Samori. The New York Times’ Michiko Kakutani described the book as “a searing meditation on what it means to be black in America today.” The book was on nearly every Best Books of 2015 list as the year came to a close. It has already won the National Book Award. It will likely win more awards.

It is an essential book. Coates is described as America’s contemporary James Baldwin. It’s a reasonable comparison.

Last year, on MLK day, we pointed to Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy as the year’s necessary book. This year, we recommend the work of Mr. Coates.

On April 8, 2015, Coates, spoke at the nonprofit literary association, Lannan Foundation.

During the evening, he reads from the second section of Between the World and Me in which he writes about the 2000 shooting death of his brilliant college friend, Prince Carmen Jones, who was at the time a 23-year-old student at Howard University, when a plain clothes police officer reportedly followed the unarmed student for 16 miles, thinking he was a drug dealer who might have stolen a police service weapon. In the course of the case of mistaken identity, the officer tried to box in Jones and his car in with his own unmarked car. When the panicked Jones rammed the cop’s car, trying frantically to escape, the officer shot him 16 times. Six bullets hit the young Prince Jones, five of hem in his back.

It is an emotional reading.

After Coates reads, he is interviewed by NPR host, Michelle Norris. The conversation is wickedly intelligent, funny, enlightening, provocative, profoundly human.

Enjoy.

3 Comments

  • The fight continues for all oppressed people regardless of ethnic origin,nationality or color
    Accountability is standard beginning yesterday or pay the price for the lack thereof tomorrow. Times have changed and the old way of doing business is forever gone.

  • Couple of interesting tid bits about Good Ol” Ta. First, the police officer who followed Ta’s old college buddy Prince, and wound up shooting him after Prince rammed his car,name is Carlton Jones. Carlton Jones is black .Now you might be thinking ,what difference does that make? In the world of Ta race is EVERYTHING and don’t worry ,Ta still blames white racism. Second, His parents were black panthers who have since died and left the family home to Ta. Ta is now allowing the old family friend , a guy named Eddie Conway ,to live there. Eddie is also a black panther from way back. Guess Eddie needed the place because he just got out of prison after doing about about 40 years. His crime was an ambush murder of a Baltimore police officer from the 70’s. Ta is just the latest fad , a token black “intellectual” for white liberals, can’t wait for him to fade away.

  • Interesting article about Coates. His worldview and life have been shaped by circumstances and experiences beyond the comprehension or interest of many. As to Mr. Conway, there were substantive issues with his trial and conviction. The court elected to release him for time served. There will be others. http://m.democracynow.org/stories/14236

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