The Message: my conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates
Palestine, October 7 and the battle for humanity and freedom that goes beyond one Middle East conflict
A few months ago I had the opportunity to travel to Xavier University in New Orleans to participate in an onstage conversation with the great Ta-Nehisi Coates, one of the most important public intellectuals in the country, in my opinion, and one of my favorite writers. We talked about his latest book, The Message, which chronicles his first trip to the African continent, and his journey last year to Israel and Palestine. The talk was sponsored by Baldwin & Co., my favorite bookstore in New Orleans and a must visit for all book lovers. Here is the conversation in full, for those interested:
Reiders, tell me what you think!
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I attended the event in New Orleans. There were over 3,000 people in attendance. It was an incredible event.
What a great interview! Really got me to question what I stand for & what I am willing to do to stand up for my values, which align with Dr. Coates’. Joy, your statement about “fighting against the stories that have been told & the stories we tell” struck me to my core. That said, reconciling what we stand for with the stories that we will tell, is indeed a battle. For years, I’ve been trying to untangle my prejudices (not necessarily race) from the stories that I, as a white woman from a military family, have been indoctrinated with. So many of the stories we’re told from the time we are small children have laid the ground for false preconceptions.
I believe in the purity of Dr. Coates’ humanity & do treat others with kindness & respect; however, one of the stories that I grew up with says that if one doesn’t play the game of life (a sort of politics) to get along, it shows a lack of respect for what my elders taught me, so to speak. It’s deeply ingrained to not rock the boat. This is unacceptable to the 68 year old version of me. I want to stand up for what’s right. Period. Your interview has reminded me of who I am & has caused me to dig down into my core to have the courage to be authentic, even if it rocks the boat. I’m questioning the ways I justify, for example, why I went along with our government’s choice to side with Israel in destroying innocent Palestinians while in pursuit of Hamas. The stories include, well, the US must support Israel and eliminate the terrorists. While I agree with eliminating terrorists, I never believed that allowing Palestinians to be slaughtered was ok. It is nothing short of horrific. And yes, Hamas used Palestinians as human shields so they are largely responsible. But, genocide is NEVER ok. But, but, but. The *buts* should not be acceptable - we must insist on finding alternative ways to plainly object to cruelty.