SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Ta-Nehisi Coates, 'Unflinching' Voice on Racism, Declared MacArthur Genius
'Writing without shallow polemic and in a measured style, Coates addresses complex and challenging issues such as racial identity, systemic racial bias, and urban policing,' declared the MacArthur Foundation.
Sep 29, 2015
Journalist, author, and leading voice on anti-black racism in America, Ta-Nehisi Coates, was revealed Tuesday to be one of 24 recipients of the 2015 MacArthur Genius awards.
"Writing without shallow polemic and in a measured style, Coates addresses complex and challenging issues such as racial identity, systemic racial bias, and urban policing," declared the foundation. "He subtly embeds the present--in the form of anecdotes about himself or others--into historical analysis in order to illustrate how the implications of the past are still experienced by people today."
A Baltimore native and current national correspondent for The Atlantic, Coates was recognized by the foundation for his groundbreaking article, The Case for Reparations, as well as his memoirs The Beautiful Struggle and Between the World and Me. In the latter, the foundation states, Coates "unflinchingly articulates the physical and mental experience of being a black man in America today."
In a video on the foundation website, Coates touched upon the philosophy and theory underpinning his work--which examines poverty, mass incarceration, and institutional racism. "My argument for reparations for slavery is really quite simple," he explained. "The relationship between black people and their country is of their country taking from them."
"There is no way to have a 250-plus-year history of extracting resources from a community and think you are going to fix the problems of that community without putting some of that back," Coates added.
The writer went on to declare that he was "ecstatic" upon learning he had received the award. "We labor in the dark," he said. "If anyone even reads what I'm doing, that's a great day."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
Journalist, author, and leading voice on anti-black racism in America, Ta-Nehisi Coates, was revealed Tuesday to be one of 24 recipients of the 2015 MacArthur Genius awards.
"Writing without shallow polemic and in a measured style, Coates addresses complex and challenging issues such as racial identity, systemic racial bias, and urban policing," declared the foundation. "He subtly embeds the present--in the form of anecdotes about himself or others--into historical analysis in order to illustrate how the implications of the past are still experienced by people today."
A Baltimore native and current national correspondent for The Atlantic, Coates was recognized by the foundation for his groundbreaking article, The Case for Reparations, as well as his memoirs The Beautiful Struggle and Between the World and Me. In the latter, the foundation states, Coates "unflinchingly articulates the physical and mental experience of being a black man in America today."
In a video on the foundation website, Coates touched upon the philosophy and theory underpinning his work--which examines poverty, mass incarceration, and institutional racism. "My argument for reparations for slavery is really quite simple," he explained. "The relationship between black people and their country is of their country taking from them."
"There is no way to have a 250-plus-year history of extracting resources from a community and think you are going to fix the problems of that community without putting some of that back," Coates added.
The writer went on to declare that he was "ecstatic" upon learning he had received the award. "We labor in the dark," he said. "If anyone even reads what I'm doing, that's a great day."
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
Journalist, author, and leading voice on anti-black racism in America, Ta-Nehisi Coates, was revealed Tuesday to be one of 24 recipients of the 2015 MacArthur Genius awards.
"Writing without shallow polemic and in a measured style, Coates addresses complex and challenging issues such as racial identity, systemic racial bias, and urban policing," declared the foundation. "He subtly embeds the present--in the form of anecdotes about himself or others--into historical analysis in order to illustrate how the implications of the past are still experienced by people today."
A Baltimore native and current national correspondent for The Atlantic, Coates was recognized by the foundation for his groundbreaking article, The Case for Reparations, as well as his memoirs The Beautiful Struggle and Between the World and Me. In the latter, the foundation states, Coates "unflinchingly articulates the physical and mental experience of being a black man in America today."
In a video on the foundation website, Coates touched upon the philosophy and theory underpinning his work--which examines poverty, mass incarceration, and institutional racism. "My argument for reparations for slavery is really quite simple," he explained. "The relationship between black people and their country is of their country taking from them."
"There is no way to have a 250-plus-year history of extracting resources from a community and think you are going to fix the problems of that community without putting some of that back," Coates added.
The writer went on to declare that he was "ecstatic" upon learning he had received the award. "We labor in the dark," he said. "If anyone even reads what I'm doing, that's a great day."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy