Yesterday I found myself in a room with a few dozen other mostly Black students having a pretty candid discussion with Ta-Nehisi Coates. For a while I was nervous, I mean, the last time I saw Ta-Nehisi Coates he was on MSNBC talking with Melissa Harris-Perry discussing his essay which was being talked about ALL AROUND THE NATION. THIS IS ONE OF AMERICAS TOP BLACK MINDS. Anyways I was struck at not only his sharp intelligence and ability to diagnose social, political, and racial phenomena, but the ability of this writing giant (He's actually 6'4") to shrink himself to a level that made it possible for shy, starstruck, brilliant minds to engage with him.
In my short time around Ta-Nehisi Coates I picked up on three lessons that I'd like to share with you. 1) The best way to touch people is through selfish work When we were talking to Mr. Coates about his career and love of writing I found that although he did enjoy the national spotlight, what really drives his work is himself. He described his work as "selfish". Mr. Coates explained that he wrote about the things that he wrote about because it brought himself peace. As I listened to him address the crowd at the reception he explained how he forgets sometimes that his work touches others, and that he really writes for himself. I've heard similar things from Hip-Hop artists that inspire me. In fact Ta-Nehisi told us that for 19 years he wrote on his blog without many people, other than his father, taking notice and was completely happy with his contribution. It brought peace to me because it made me realize that I don't have to necessarily become prominent, or well known to be at peace with what I've done on earth. That is liberating. 2) Optimism is not always necessary He said most of what he writes is dark and negative. When you write about slavery and the continuous plundering of Black people in America it's hard to write much that is positive. However Mr. Coates is one of the only people I've heard speak about these issues with the same commitment to absolute truth telling. He said that we may never see the change that we thirst for in our lifetime, that the United States of America still operates under the policy of white supremacy, and that there's not much that an individual can do to side step the institutional barriers to black people. While he said that there is a moral obligation to stand up to injustice, there definitely is no guarantee that real concrete change can be achieved without the luck of external forces that are out of our control. 3) I'm not insane When I heard Ta-Nehisi say "The entire white middle-class is the result of the most grandiose of Affirmative action programs" I realized; "I'M NOT CRAZY". For a while I've been having an internal struggle about whether or not I'm paranoid about the extent to which white supremacy and anti-black racism have control over America's socio-political landscape. However after hearing somebody who's winning journalistic awards, is nationally syndicated, and is a legitimate voice on the American landscape speak about white supremacy and racism as directly and outright as Ta-Nehisi Coates did I've been reassured that I'm not out of my mind. (The sad thing is that I know that this is a typical psychological effect of micro-aggression and yet it still somehow finds me). Yesterday taught me that artists like Kendrick, Hughes, and Coates are at their core only inspirations. For their art to truly touch the world I must be able to channel that inspiration into my own work. Its beautiful really -515
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October 2018
Matt BruceViva DSM!! |