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From Stephen Elliott
You may have noticed one or two jokes about Brad Paisley and LL Cool J’s collaboration “Accidental Racist,” partially because of every aspect of the song, but mainly because of every aspect of the song.
But Ta-Nehisi Coates puts humor aside for his response in the Atlantic, choosing instead to “seriously and directly engag[e] Brad Paisley and his stated motives for the song.” And he does it really well:
...more“Booming System” is dope.
Byliner’s list of spectacular nonfiction articles of 2012 highlights two complementary essays from the Atlantic‘s Civil War issue.
First, Yoni Appelbaum uses a hyperrealistic “cyclotron” painting of the Battle of Gettysburg as a pin to puncture the national narrative that the Union and the Confederacy were equally noble, and that veterans from both sides had only to recognize their mutual heroism to become “comrades.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates takes on the same battle and the same narrative (as well as the same Faulkner passage) from a different perspective.
...moreWhat do Raymond Chandler’s protagonists have in common with hip-hop artists?
At The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates investigates:
“I’ve had the privilege of reading The Big Sleep, between bouts of dabbling with the new Kendrick Lamar. Both works are technically impressive.
...more“…Prejudice is a kind of cartel that works best when there is no real dissent. Once one person breaks away, others who may have had doubts find it easy to speak up. Moreover, those who never really had objection–but were just kinda going along–also fall away.”
As more public figures express their support for marriage equality, Ta-Nehisi Coates analyzes the nature of same-sex marriage opposition.
...moreIn the last few days there have been many thoughtful take-downs of the already infamous Forbes “If I were a poor black kid” column. Don’t miss Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Atlantic response discussing “a muscular empathy” and confronting our own mediocrity.
...moreThis Ta-Nehesi Coates Atlantic piece takes a closer look at what caused the rift between abolitionists and suffragists, despite their many shared values.
“I think one way of looking at this – among many others – is to not look at the movement post-1865, but post-1835, when abolitionist women, like Anthony and Stanton, were subject to unbridled sexism among their allies and enemies alike. In antebellum America, for a woman to speak before a promiscuous audience–that is to say an audience of mixed-gender–was to invite charges of prostitution.”
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Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle and is currently working on a novel set in Virginia prior to the Civil War.
“Rogers tried to explain the effects of the Emancipation Proclamation to the woman. “‘Well, you’ll have to fight your way out there before you can get that wench,’ she said. ‘Is this your child?’ I said as a flaxen haired boy came toward me.
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This week in New York The Rumpus throws an A Night Together with Sam Lipsyte, Michael Showalter, Lorelei Lee, Jeff Lewis, Jump-Off winners and more, Jamaica Kincaid and Rick Moody help collect Books for NY Schools, Richard Nash and Jim Hanas debate fiction and technology, Gary Shteyngart and Amy Sohn host a Shabbat dinner, Robert Coover reads, Etgar Keret talks to Ira Glass and Frederick Wiseman’s film Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind screens.
Rory McInnes, budding artist in search of attention from Google Earth.
And as long as I’m acting like a twelve year old, a Florida eighth-grader gets kicked off the school bus for toxic farts.
The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic was channeling AC/DC last week.
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