Ta-Nehisi Interview

Michael Dang
Post #3

The interviews of Ta-Nehisi are very powerful in relating the racial tension that exists in history and the world today. Although he doesn’t use deep sensory details, Ta-Nehisi is great at portraying and telling events. The descriptions are very blunt, but they are very easy to picture and connect with. For example, in the NPR interview,Ta-Nehisi talks about one of his friends that unjustly got shot by a police officer. He only briefly describes his friend, but he uses shocking details that draw a lot of sympathy. His friend was actually followed a long distance and shot near his finance’s home. This interview was very intriguing since Ta-Nehisi draws a lot of his personal experiences.

America has come a long way since the slave trade and there is a lot of talk about adding diversity and equality in all aspects of culture. However, a great racial tension and mistreatment to many groups of people still exists. In the PBS interview, the interviewer does a great job at asking controversial questions that bring up a lot of dialogue. For example, the interviewer asks Ta-Nehisi why he wrote the statement: “In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body. It is heritage.” Although this would seem shocking in the present time, there is a lot of truth to this statement. Ta-Nehisi does well in backing up his statement by telling of the African-American enslavement and the violent Jim Crow laws that lasted for hundreds of years. He even says the large number of incarcerations of African-Americans are a modern result of those events in a sense. With this response being said, I think the interviewer was prepared for this type of response by Ta-Nehisi. The interviewer later states a counterargument that was said by a colleague. This colleague said that Ta-Nehisi distorts history by only looking through the violent lens of American history such as the KKK and that there are good things like Harlem Children’s Zones that have been added. Impressively, Ta-Nehisi argues against this by stating that the injustice and abuse of the African-American people has lasted for hundreds of years. He also states that these Harlem Children’s Zones have only been in existence for 15 years. This helps to improve Ta-Nehisi’s overall argument on the subject

Overall, both interviews are great at bringing out Ta-Nehisi’s blunt and powerful messages. Although, the PBS interview was a lot more informative as the interviewer asked more direct questions geared toward more controversial topics. Through these interviews, I am amazed at how passionate Ta-Nehisi is at what he believes in. It’s very inspiring to see his drive and intensity for equality and social justice.