Home / Quotes / Quote by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Quote by Ta-Nehisi Coates

“There is a notion out there that black people enjoy the Sisyphean struggle against racism. In fact, most of us live for the day when we can struggle against anything else. But having been, by that very racism, pinned into ghettoes, both metaphorical and real, our options for struggle are chosen long before we are born. And so we struggle out of fear for our children. We struggle out of fear for ourselves. We struggle to avoid our feelings, because to actually consider all that was taken, to understand that it was taken systematically, that the taking is essential to America and echoes down through the ages, could make you crazy.”

Book:We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

Work

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

This book is a compilation of essays that delve into the political and social dynamics of the United States during a specific eight-year period. The author examines the complexities of race, identity, and power, offering insights into the political climate of the time. more

Author

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an American writer known for his insightful social commentary and literary works. His writings often focus on themes of race, history, and social justice, with his most famous work being 'Between the World and Me', which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2015. more

“Even at five, I had somehow figured out that there was a group known as ‘white people’ to whom it was now clear my mother belonged and that many of these people would get offended at the mere mention of their whiteness. I somehow knew instinctively that whiteness, like all systems of power, preferred not to be interrogated.”

Power Racism Systematic Racism

Book:Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire

Source: Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire

“The power structure understands that Black folks have been hungry for so long, fixing us a plate now that's the same size as theirs would do nothing for our hunger. After all, they're pretty full and fat. They know we now require a much bigger plate than theirs to quiet the stomach rumblings. They see us and know what it looks like to be less powerful. They are fighting to never FEEL it.”

Government Power Racism Equality Black People African Americans Race Relations Systematic Racism

Author:Darnell Lamont Walker

“Fact-based fiction is a necessity in our world. Where some speak truth to power through prose and disseminate the irrefutable, objective verities strategically.”

Author Quotes Fact Based Fiction

Author:A.K. Kuykendall

“Everything that ever gets done in this world is done by madmen,”

Humor England Huxley Brit Lit Chrome Yellow