Ta-Nehisi Coates

“Either writing and books are powerful, or they’re not. And if they are—and I’ve argued that they are—then the era made in The Case for Reparations had great power and was meaningful. It legitimized forces that for reasons of pure ancestry, for reasons of political tradition, I have to oppose. That deserves atonement. You have to make that right. I had to understand what happened and then find my way back. So, that’s what much of the reporting was. Writers are always in process.

-Ta-Nehisi Coates, episode 392 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

On the heels of his latest book The Message, author Ta-Nehisi Coates joins Sam for a conversation in Los Angeles.

At the top, we discuss how his Atlantic piece The Case for Reparations guided these three new essays (6:10), Coates’ early education growing up in West Baltimore (14:57), and his powerful dispatches from South Carolina (22:00) and the Middle East (29:30).

On the back-half, Coates unpacks why he believes the mainstream media prioritizes “factual complexity over self-evident morality” (37:47), his advocacy for Palestinian journalists (39:20), and his reflections about the U.S. election (47:28). To close, a formative passage from James Baldwin’s The Lost Generation (52:38) and a story about love and writing (57:45).

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at sf@talkeasypod.com.

Show-notes:

Illustrations by Krishna ShenoiReference photograph by Ethan Newmyer.

Subscribe, rate, and review: Apple Podcasts and Spotify.