Jen Yokoyama
Post #3

Ta-Nehisi Coates Interviews

      The interviews with Ta-Nehesi Coates were very interesting.  They both had different ways of asking Coates about his book and how he lived.  For example, while the NPR interview focused more on how Coates writes and what the impact of his writing is on himself and others, while the PBS interview focused more on reactions to the book and applications of it in past and modern American history.   Despite who the interviewer was, Coates asserted his point of view very strongly and also addressed any opposing ones.  In the PBS interview, Coates addressed a critic who disagrees with his point of view on "the American Dream", rebutting that programs like the Harlem Children's Zone, programs that "help" African-Americans, haven't been around for nearly as long as groups who have oppressed and harassed African-Americans, such as the Ku Klux Klan.  He also said in the NPR interview that he writes as direct as possible, but not with the purpose to make people uncomfortable.  

     Coates' thinking can be a little intimidating for those of us who don't know a lot about African-American history and current African-American issues, but as a person whose ethnicity was discriminated against in America before, I can kind of see where he is coming from.  An interesting and true point that Coates brings up in the NPR interview is that even though African-American oppression may be their responsibility, it is not their fault.  If you try to put yourself in the shoes of where the discrimination all started, with the slave trade coming to the Americas, you would find that there's nothing you as a slave would be able to do to stop it.  The discrimination against minority races, especially the African-Americans, isn't anything they can completely get rid of, but they can take it up upon themselves to learn more about it and bring awareness to it, like Coates is.  The world may not be as fair to you as it is to others, but it's your responsibility to learn as much as you can about your situation and figure out how to adapt to it, and that's the point that Coates is trying to drive home.