Redlining went beyond FHA-backed loans and spread to the entire mortgage industry, which was already rife with racism, excluding black people from… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
You don't actually have control of the position people want you to be in. If they say, 'You king of the blacks,'… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
To prevent enabling oppression, we demand that black people be twice as good. To prevent verifying stereotypes, we pledge to never eat… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
When I grew up in West Baltimore, anything associated - and I'm talking about my childhood - with white people 99 percent… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
There is some group of Americans who are really, really curious to understand how we ended up at this point, where every… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
When people hear the term 'political prisoner,' especially on the Left, it becomes a kind of abstraction. Folks are aware of injustice,… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
Barack Obama is the president of the United States of America. More specifically, Barack Obama is the president of a congenitally racist… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
When you have a policy of making sure that African Americans cannot build wealth, of plundering African American communities of wealth, giving… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
When people who are not black are interested in what I do, frankly, I'm always surprised. I don't know if it's my… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
There's a long tradition of black folks pleading with white people. It's a tradition that emerges from political necessity, so I get… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
Well into the 20th century, black people spoke of their flight from Mississippi in much the same manner as their runagate ancestors… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
Segregations, by which I mean people living in a certain area, was a planned system. It was made that way. And what… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
Never forget that we were enslaved in this country longer than we have been free. Never forget that for 250 years black… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
When you know that people know who you are, you are always working - and not the work you want to do.… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
I am always surprised people are surprised that people haven't read things. — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
I've been very, very careful to tell people what I am qualified to talk about and what I'm not qualified to talk… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
“To Trump whiteness is neither notional nor symbolic but is the very core of his power. In this, Trump is not singular. But whereas… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
“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… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
The greatest reward of this constant interrogation, confrontation with the brutality of my country, is that it has freed me from hosts and myths. — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
What I am telling you is that you do not need to know to love, and it is right that you feel it all… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
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,… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
[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… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
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… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
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… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
“I drove away, as always, thinking of you. I do not believe that we can stop them, Samori, because they must ultimately stop themselves.… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
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… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
The mainstream sort of presentation of the civil rights movement was not something that I directly inherited. — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
[Grew up in Hawaii] that gave [Barack Obama] a kind of optimism, an ability to see things, you know, and frankly, an ability to… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image