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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
In many ways "We Were Eight Years In Power" has been a fitting capstone to the year. Two of Coates' essays delved into subjects I had read about this year: Malcolm X and Michelle Obama. To have these people reviewed through another perspective - especially a perspective as intellectually rigourous as Coates - deepened my understanding of both. The other essays in this collection were likewise thought provoking. I had, to some extent, been aware of the way the U.S. structurely disadvantages people of color and black people in specific. The author hammered home the details of this system, and does so with poignancy, that fleshed out my understanding of history and deepened my anger. A couple takeaways:
* One of the potential flaws of liberalism is the assumption that taking a color-blind approach to policy will result in a colorblind impact. However, Coates provides ample detail on how policies that we think of as the hallmarks of liberal efforts - the New Deal, the GI Bill and the federal subsidization of suburban housing - were explicitly designed or allowed to come into being only if they excluded blacks from benefiting. Because of this, any government policy that impacts justice, health care, or wealth should explicitly consider race as it is formulized, if only to address the impact of a deepening racial divide.
* The argument for reparations to America's black population is not one that I had dedicated significant thought to. It seemed to me that, as Obama and other actors have argued, if the black population was disproportionately impoverished as a result of policies, then policies geared towards addressing poverty at large should be able to lift up blacks as well as whites and other ethnic groups. However, the argument Coates makes here, that the poverty and economic disadvantages faced by blacks is unique, since in many ways it is the product of decades of design, and that it does not emerge from the same structural disadvantage that results in poverty in whites, suggests that a fully color blind approach is not a viable way to address black poverty. There is a danger of suggesting that the roots of white poverty are the roots of all poverty in the U.S., and ignoring the role of the criminal justice system, education system, health care systems, etc, in perpetuating the wealth gap in black america. Therefore, solutions to poverty *should* consider race and all the elements of justice, health care, education, climate, etc.
This underlines the arguments I'm hearing from people like Rihanna Gunn-Wright. Holisitic approaches are more complicated, but essential if we want to achieve justice.
This book angered me, saddened me, and made me ashamed of the ways I, and the people I support, say things and make decisions that perpetuate inequality. I hope that reading it is helping to deepen my understanding and make me into a better person.
* One of the potential flaws of liberalism is the assumption that taking a color-blind approach to policy will result in a colorblind impact. However, Coates provides ample detail on how policies that we think of as the hallmarks of liberal efforts - the New Deal, the GI Bill and the federal subsidization of suburban housing - were explicitly designed or allowed to come into being only if they excluded blacks from benefiting. Because of this, any government policy that impacts justice, health care, or wealth should explicitly consider race as it is formulized, if only to address the impact of a deepening racial divide.
* The argument for reparations to America's black population is not one that I had dedicated significant thought to. It seemed to me that, as Obama and other actors have argued, if the black population was disproportionately impoverished as a result of policies, then policies geared towards addressing poverty at large should be able to lift up blacks as well as whites and other ethnic groups. However, the argument Coates makes here, that the poverty and economic disadvantages faced by blacks is unique, since in many ways it is the product of decades of design, and that it does not emerge from the same structural disadvantage that results in poverty in whites, suggests that a fully color blind approach is not a viable way to address black poverty. There is a danger of suggesting that the roots of white poverty are the roots of all poverty in the U.S., and ignoring the role of the criminal justice system, education system, health care systems, etc, in perpetuating the wealth gap in black america. Therefore, solutions to poverty *should* consider race and all the elements of justice, health care, education, climate, etc.
This underlines the arguments I'm hearing from people like Rihanna Gunn-Wright. Holisitic approaches are more complicated, but essential if we want to achieve justice.
This book angered me, saddened me, and made me ashamed of the ways I, and the people I support, say things and make decisions that perpetuate inequality. I hope that reading it is helping to deepen my understanding and make me into a better person.
This is the third book I've read (this one being a collection of essays written during the Obama administration) by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the third five star rating I've given him. He is a phenomenal writer, unlike almost any other I've read in my 30 years on this earth. His essays, and the writing preceding them, were insightful, compelling, gorgeously written, and overall, important to the conversations we have about race in our society. They force you to think, to consider and possibly reconsider your views, and most importantly challenge the way you think.
I super appreciated this book. One could, presumably, go back and read the 8 articles published in The Atlantic that make up the meat of the book, but you would miss out on some of the best insights which were written by Coates from the vantage point of 2016/17 and which place him in a larger genealogy of Black writers.
It was particularly interesting to read this book, which was clearly published as a response to 45's election, during the Biden presidency. Coates critiques Obama and much of the neo-liberal governing style in ways that seem wildly obvious at the moment, but remind me that I wasn't thinking those things in 2012. It also drives the point home that the essential problems at the core of this country-- historical, systemic, robbery of lives, livelihood, culture, etc.-- aren't going away and aren't over now that we elected a Democrat and wouldn't go away even if we'd elected a socialist.
If you don't have the time to read the whole thing... I really loved a couple of the essays in particular. "Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?" was fantastic. Coates (as many others have in the past) asks the reader why the Civil War is viewed as a tragedy by (white) Americans, and the analysis of historical mythology was right up my alley. Also, "The Case For Reparations" is without a doubt the best part of the book, and if there was a subsection which captured the rest of the message this would be the one.
It was particularly interesting to read this book, which was clearly published as a response to 45's election, during the Biden presidency. Coates critiques Obama and much of the neo-liberal governing style in ways that seem wildly obvious at the moment, but remind me that I wasn't thinking those things in 2012. It also drives the point home that the essential problems at the core of this country-- historical, systemic, robbery of lives, livelihood, culture, etc.-- aren't going away and aren't over now that we elected a Democrat and wouldn't go away even if we'd elected a socialist.
If you don't have the time to read the whole thing... I really loved a couple of the essays in particular. "Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?" was fantastic. Coates (as many others have in the past) asks the reader why the Civil War is viewed as a tragedy by (white) Americans, and the analysis of historical mythology was right up my alley. Also, "The Case For Reparations" is without a doubt the best part of the book, and if there was a subsection which captured the rest of the message this would be the one.
4.5 stars rounded down. If you're going to read a book about race politics in 2021, let it be this or The New Jim Crow over things like White Fragility.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
The author revisits essays he's written throughout the Obama presidency about race and politics. In this collection, he recasts Obama's presidency as the modern equivalent of the short hold on power that black legislators had in the Reconstruction era.
My main disappointment with this book will not affect most readers, which was that the audiobook is not narrated by the author. With such intensely personal stories, I prefer hearing the actual author's emotions and inflections. I felt similarly when I found out that Roxane Gay's 'Bad Feminist' wasn't read by her. It's a personal gripe that most people won't care about.
That being said, this collection of essays are moving, poignant, and particularly relevant to a modern American audience. I know that sounds like a bad cliched lit review, but it's true in this instance. Mr. Coates beautifully expresses his experiences as both a writer and a citizen in a country that isn't sure how to acknowledge anything other than standard white supremacy.
That being said, this collection of essays are moving, poignant, and particularly relevant to a modern American audience. I know that sounds like a bad cliched lit review, but it's true in this instance. Mr. Coates beautifully expresses his experiences as both a writer and a citizen in a country that isn't sure how to acknowledge anything other than standard white supremacy.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Oh... My... Gosh... Talk about a gut punch.
Coates wrote an essay during each year of President Obama's presidency. He talked about the frustrations and pains of black people and why those pains have long (long, LONG) lasting effects. He talks about slavery, incarceration rates, sub-prime mortgage lending that made purchasing and keeping a home almost impossible, Jim Crow laws, white supremacy then and now, and so much more. It was a real gut punch to read this and learn about so many things I was blind to.
He sums it up well with this quote from a conversation he had with Obama- "It's amazing we got this far given what we went through."
Coates wrote an essay during each year of President Obama's presidency. He talked about the frustrations and pains of black people and why those pains have long (long, LONG) lasting effects. He talks about slavery, incarceration rates, sub-prime mortgage lending that made purchasing and keeping a home almost impossible, Jim Crow laws, white supremacy then and now, and so much more. It was a real gut punch to read this and learn about so many things I was blind to.
He sums it up well with this quote from a conversation he had with Obama- "It's amazing we got this far given what we went through."
challenging
reflective
medium-paced