--- title: "4 Black and white Quotes By Ta-Nehisi Coates" description: "4 Black and white quotes by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Plus more from Ta-Nehisi Coates and more Black and white sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/420/ta-nehisi-coates-733_black-and-white_rates-of-black-poverty-have-decreased-bl_1218293.png" --- > [Rates of black poverty have decreased. Black teen-pregnancy rates are at record lows - and the gap between black and white teen-pregnancy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/rates-of-black-poverty-have-decreased-black-teen-pregnancy-rates-are/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/420/ta-nehisi-coates-733_black-and-white_rates-of-black-poverty-have-decreased-bl_1218293.png) > [“I was not always a believer in reparations. I’d read TransAfrica founder Randall Robinson’s work on the subject in the late ’90s,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/i-was-not-always-a-believer-in-reparations-i-d-read-transafrica/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee0/ta-nehisi-coates-733_black-and-white_i-was-not-always-a-believer-in-reparatio_1274084.jpg) > [“There's a liberal story that limited opportunities, and barriers, lead to employment problems and criminal records, but then there's another story that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/there-s-a-liberal-story-that-limited-opportunities-and-barriers-lead/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/708/ta-nehisi-coates-733_african-american-cul_there-s-a-liberal-story-that-limited-opp_2476630.jpg) > [“This part of the Obama formula is the most troubling, and least thought out. This judgment emerges from my own biography. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/this-part-of-the-obama-formula-is-the-most-troubling-and-least/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b78/ta-nehisi-coates-733_black-and-white_this-part-of-the-obama-formula-is-the-mo_3234297.jpg) ## Other authors on Black and white - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b014/author-karen-marie-moning-55113.jpg) Karen Marie Moning 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-and-white/karen-marie-moning/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b019/author-peter-molyneux-74964.jpg) Peter Molyneux 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-and-white/peter-molyneux/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-nelson-mandela-70785.jpg) Nelson Mandela 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-and-white/nelson-mandela/) ## More by Ta-Nehisi Coates > [“To Trump whiteness is neither notional nor symbolic but is the very core of his power. In this, Trump is not singular. But whereas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/to-trump-whiteness-is-neither-notional-nor-symbolic-but-is-the-very/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [“The focus on one sector of Trump voters—the white working class—is puzzling, given the breadth of his white coalition. Indeed, there is a kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/the-focus-on-one-sector-of-trump-voters-the-white-working-class-is/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [The greatest reward of this constant interrogation, confrontation with the brutality of my country, is that it has freed me from hosts and myths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/the-greatest-reward-of-this-constant-interrogation-confrontation-with/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [What I am telling you is that you do not need to know to love, and it is right that you feel it all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/what-i-am-telling-you-is-that-you-do-not-need-to-know-to-love-and-it/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [I think 'Dear White People,' the show, is a tremendous artistic achievement. It's always hinting that there is something beyond the pleading and wokeness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/i-think-dear-white-people-the-show-is-a-tremendous-artistic/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [ \[Winning the White House was an achievement\], but as an African-American, \[Barack Obama\], I think the symbolism is in how he conducted himself. The… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/winning-the-white-house-was-an-achievement-but-as-an-african-american/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [What sets black people apart is not some deficit in personal responsibility. It's the weight on our shoulders. That is what's actually different. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/what-sets-black-people-apart-is-not-some-deficit-in-personal/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [Like a lot of people, I'm very, very concerned about Senator Clinton's record. I'm very, very concerned about where her positions were in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/like-a-lot-of-people-i-m-very-very-concerned-about-senator-clinton-s/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [“I drove away, as always, thinking of you. I do not believe that we can stop them, Samori, because they must ultimately stop themselves.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/i-drove-away-as-always-thinking-of-you-i-do-not-believe-that-we-can/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [What I’m talking about is more than recompense for past injustices—more than a handout, a payoff, hush money, or a reluctant bribe. What I’m…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/what-i-m-talking-about-is-more-than-recompense-for-past-injustices/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [The mainstream sort of presentation of the civil rights movement was not something that I directly inherited.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/the-mainstream-sort-of-presentation-of-the-civil-rights-movement-was/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [ \[Grew up in Hawaii\] that gave \[Barack Obama\] a kind of optimism, an ability to see things, you know, and frankly, an ability to… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/grew-up-in-hawaii-that-gave-barack-obama-a-kind-of-optimism-an/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [“I sensed the schools were hiding something, drugging us with false morality so that we would not see, so that we did not ask:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/i-sensed-the-schools-were-hiding-something-drugging-us-with-false/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [You don't make a case for reparations thinking, 'Oh yeah, people are gonna love this.' I didn't see that coming.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/you-don-t-make-a-case-for-reparations-thinking-oh-yeah-people-are/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [“And I know that there are black boys and black girls out there lost in a Bermuda triangle of the mind or stranded in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/and-i-know-that-there-are-black-boys-and-black-girls-out-there-lost/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-and-white/ta-nehisi-coates/#itemlist", "name": "4 Black and white Quotes By Ta-Nehisi Coates", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Rates of black poverty have decreased. 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Jackson argued that there was a link between the impoverished cities where black people lived and the relatively affluent suburbs where they did not, and the link was neither mystical nor natural but was the knowable actions of our government. I knew that housing was a great source of the wealth for American families. 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