Posted on 10/04/2017 12:32:00 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
One of the recurring ideas of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s new book, We Were Eight Years in Power, is that he hates being asked to offer white people hope of a better future in which America might become a post-racial utopia. But when Coates appeared on The Late Show Monday night, Stephen Colbert asked him to offer that hope — and appeared to be almost offended when Coates refused.
In his book, Coates writes that he hates being asked to talk about a future he doesn’t believe in, and he simply does not believe that America is going to “get over” racism. As he sees it, white supremacy is so foundational to America that it will be impossible to ever eradicate it. “Our story,” he concludes at the end of Eight Years in Power, “is a tragedy,” but it’s one that Coates has dedicated himself to resisting nonetheless.
There are also troubling racial dynamics to this question. Coates is one of the most important writers on race in America today, but that also makes him one of the only writers on race whose work many white Americans have read — and correspondingly, for many white readers, there’s a sense that by reading Coates, you are absolving yourself of complicity in America’s racism. As the Washington Post put it in 2015, “‘Did you read the latest Ta-Nehisi Coates piece?’ is shorthand for ‘Have you absorbed and shared the latest and best and correct thinking on racism, white privilege, institutional violence and structural inequality?’ If you don’t have the time or inclination or experience to figure it out yourself, you outsource it to Ta-Nehisi Coates.”
White people seem to have decided that it is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s job to teach us all there is to know about racism in America. And once he’s finished, we would also like for him to make us feel better, to absolve us of our guilt and tell us that things will get better. Which is a lot to put on a single person, however brilliant — to say nothing of the fact that, as Coates pointed out on The Late Show on Monday night, it’s not actually his job.
“You’ve had a hard time in some interviews expressing a sense of hope in this country,” Colbert said toward the end of the interview. “Do you have any hope tonight for the people out there, about how we could be a better country, we could have better race relations, we could have better politics?”
“No,” Coates said, to scattered laughter. “But I’m not the person you should go to for that. You should go to your pastor. Your pastor provides you hope. Your friends provide you hope.”
“I’m not asking you to make sh*t up,” Colbert interjected. “I’m asking if you personally see any evidence for change in America.”
“But I would have to make sh*t up to actually answer that question in a satisfying way,” Coates explained.
What about the coming demographic change to America, Colbert asked. White people will soon be a numerical minority in America: Won’t things change then?
“Your question presumes that there is a static definition of whiteness,” Coates said. “And that this is the first time that there’s been a demographic change.” The Irish, he argues, weren’t always considered white; neither were the Italians or the Jews. America, by implication, is perfectly happy to change the definition of whiteness if it means the country can remain a majority-white nation.
“In addition to the very definition of whiteness being malleable,” Coates added, “the ability to vote is also a malleable thing. So you might have the possibility of the demographics actually changing, but who has the ability to use those demographics in an electoral system might also change too.”
Colbert took a second to sigh, in frustration or in sadness. “I hope you’re wrong,” he said.
Don’t think the ape depictions ended with the Civil War.
And that is only in the US. The prejudice against the Irish continued much longer in GB.
Victory for blacks looking to run things has been hollow; they “control” certain areas in our country (mainly crumbling cities), but as with sub-Saharan Africa every essential is provided by white people elsewhere.
Colbert doesn’t understand the fact that “Racism” is what empowers people like Coates. If Colbert got his wish — a post-racial utopia — then Coates would have to find another gig.
The lot of the Irish in the US improved considerably after the Civil War; I’m sure the racism didn’t disappear completely. As for Britain (I never refer to it as “great”), I would expect nothing more from those who seized Ireland. They understood why Ireland wouldn’t black out in the Blitz decades later; when they told Ireland’s government the German pilots were navigating by the lights of Ireland I’m sure the Irish set bonfires every night from that point on.
Blacks in the US are not a growing population that will eventually dominate politically; welfare reform has stabilized their birthrate while Hispanics and Asians pour in unabated. Hispanics were projected to pass blacks in number by 2010, but after the 2000 census the government admitted that had already happened.
Blacks’ problems are not with the disappearing white population; they are with what is replacing us. Ask Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and Eric Garner...
Who cares what this racist shitbag thinks? Only White liberals
Yup. Accuse me too much and I’m tempted to just go with it.
Fact is, I’m racist, you’re racist, we’re all racist. AND, more blacks hate whites and lump whites together in one solid edifice than most whites today.
So why bother fighting it?
LOL!
I saw a Vox video this morning, where they minimized the antifa violence - stating that it was the work of a very few people, which led to confirmation bias.
I can’t take Vox seriously.
And I remember the days when late night shows interviewed Rip Taylor...
And of blackness. A lot of prominent "blacks" look like their African names were "Mocha Latte".
Personally, I believe it's the white part that makes them bright enough to participate (albeit badly) in our society.
But that opinion is based on a little tome called The Bell Curve.
“Coates is one of the most important writers on race in America today, but that also makes him one of the only writers on race whose work many white Americans have read”
The overwhelming majority of white people who have even heard of this guy are liberals, and very few of them have ever read his books, because, being liberal, they already hate themselves and America.
That has got nothing to do with them being white and everything to do with British history and politics.
It certainly won't while the bizarrely named Mr. Coates is alive. He spews racism from every pore in his body. He makes his money off of racism. The very last thing he wants to see is the end of racism.
If you say so.
Um, no. Just no.
If this dooshbag fell off the planet, it would be a better place.
Me no likee.
There is no such thing as white supremacy.
A more accurate descriptor would be white ethic, white self restraint, and white comnpetence.
That Ta-Nehisi thing needs to go live in Somalia.
Sounds like he wants to kill all the white people.
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