This segment originally aired live on July 20, 2015. An edited version was included in a best-of episode of The Brian Lehrer Show on September 7, 2015. The unedited audio can be found here.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer for The Atlantic and the author of Between the World and Me (Spiegel & Grau, 2015), talks about his new memoir that takes the form of a series of letters to his teenage son.
.@tanehisicoates on stereotypes: "There’s not enough conversation about how afraid black ppl are, for their bodies, for their children."
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) July 20, 2015
Have a question for @tanehisicoates? Want to engage in convo? He's in our studio now - call in: 212-433-9692. pic.twitter.com/mkAwrAdzC9
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) July 20, 2015
Here’s what @nytdavidbrooks wrote last wk, accusing @tanehisicoates of distorting American history. http://t.co/vwj8HSHzKH
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) July 20, 2015
.@tanehisicoates "It's not my job to cultivate ego/hope/despair." It's your job as a father right? "I think my primary job is to be honest."
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) July 20, 2015
.@tanehisicoates cites a few reasons for his radicalization: @BarackObama in office + Edmund Morgan’s "American Slavery, American Freedom."
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) July 20, 2015
America was made possible by cutting black folks out. That’s different from saying racism is something we have with us. @tanehisicoates
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) July 20, 2015
@BrianLehrer has Mr. Coates's son read the book? Would Mr. Coates write the same book for a young (teenage) white American?
— JJ (@jnsjnll) July 20, 2015
The answer: yes, several times, in various draft forms. “He likes it.” -@tanehisicoates https://t.co/QzOW9NJGjs
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) July 20, 2015
.@tanehisicoates on moving to France for 1yr: I lacked cosmopolitan perspective until my 30s, don't want my son to have to wait that long.
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) July 20, 2015