I agree that making politics all about race is a dangerous thing. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/opinion/ta-nehisi-coates-whiteness-power.html … But it isn't Ta-Nehisi Coates' fault.
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Coates is a great writer, but if his writings hadn't struck a chord in American society, he wouldn't be nearly so influential or popular.
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Mass incarceration, the persistent black-white income gap, and persistent neighborhood segregation were under-discussed before Coates.
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Meanwhile, in a rapidly diversifying America, white people were still treated as "standard" or "real" Americans by mass culture.
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Coates gave frustrated Americas a framework and a language to talk and think about these issues. That's why he's so influential.
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Is Coates' framework and language optimal? I don't think so. But no one has come up with a better one yet.
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Replying to @Noahpinion
Popping in to note that "optimal" means not merely "serving virtuous political ends" but also "reflecting the experience of black folks."
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If Coates weren't already way ahead by the first measure, he's certainly knocking it out of the park by combining the two together.
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