Close Menu
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest YouTube LinkedIn TikTok
    TopBuzzMagazine.com
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest YouTube LinkedIn TikTok
    • Home
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Music
    • Fashion
    • Books
    • Science
    • Technology
    • Cover Story
    • Contact
      • About
      • Amazon Disclaimer
      • Terms and Conditions
      • Privacy Policy
      • DMCA / Copyrights Disclaimer
    TopBuzzMagazine.com
    Home»Books»Ta-Nehisi Coates Tackles Race, Oppression and Global Issues in “The Message”
    Books

    Ta-Nehisi Coates Tackles Race, Oppression and Global Issues in “The Message”

    By AdminOctober 6, 2024
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Ta-Nehisi Coates Tackles Race, Oppression and Global Issues in “The Message”


    The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

    “‘The Message’ is well worth the read. One of America’s most important and gifted writers…”

    The Message, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ fifth book, has arrived and its gorgeously crafted writings are incisive and provocative. In intertwined essays about his recent trips to three places — Senegal, South Carolina and Palestine — the award-winning author unravels the vital relationship between stories and our view of the world past and present. “History is not inert, but contains within it a story that implicates the present. And framed a certain way, a story can be told that justifies the present political order.” Hence his theme, that stories have untold power, both to keep unjust systems in power when myths are upheld and to promote humane solutions when truth is told. 

    Writing in Service of a Larger Goal

    In the book’s first chapter, Coates uncovers the impetus for this book. He addresses a writing class he taught in summer 2022 at his alma mater Howard University, a school “founded to combat the long shadow of slavery — a shadow we understood had not yet retreated.” With that as context Coates notes his shared connection with these students, and how their practice of writing can never be “solely for the craft itself but must be in service of that larger emancipatory mandate … For you there be no real distance between writing and politics. And when I saw that in you, I saw myself.” 

    It was 1983 when his mother purchased a Sports Illustrated of his football heroes that a seven-year-old Coates first felt the urge for answers. There he read about Darryl Stingley, a wide receiver paralyzed during a violent collision in 1978. The incident changed football’s rules, but no calling out of the game’s inherent violence as culprit. Even at seven, Coates craved answers, even reading a biography about the Oakland Raider who hit Stingley and still getting no clarity. “You cannot act upon what you cannot see …There has to be something in you, something that hungers for clarity.” This experience began Coates’s quest for answers and urge to write. In the next three chapters about his travel, that relentless quest for clarity is on display. 

    Senegal to South Carolina to Palestine

    Dakar, Senegal surprises him. He takes in its vivid and colorful modernity. “There was something steampunk about it all — the fusion of the traditions of the old and the machinery of the new.” But the profundity of having finally arrived in Africa astounds him. “I had somehow beaten history itself. I thought of all my exponential grandmothers taken from this side of the world and into the vast ocean … their frustrated dreams to get back home.” 

    In Columbia, South Carolina, Coates visits a teacher forced to drop his book Between the World and Me from her curriculum for its making some of her students “feel uncomfortable” and “ashamed to be Caucasian.” He laments this shrinking of America’s educational systems, “… how it all works not simply to misinform but to miseducate; not just to assure the right answers are memorized but that the wrong questions are never asked.” He details fascinating research into 19th-century “scholarship” that promulgated bogus scientific claims meant to support Blacks remaining enslaved and to foster their shame, and how seeing the Confederate flag during this visit finally triggers him. “Sometimes you are blessed with a moment where all the dissembling, all the shame, all the politesse are stripped and evil speaks with clarity. The clarity is a gift and we should listen close.”

    Traveling to Palestine in 2023, he visits Jerusalem and the occupied territories, meeting activists, dissidents, old, young, Israelis and Palestinians alike. Tempered by his previous trips, he is struck very soon by the similarity between American Blacks and Palestinians, both kept in place by old myths and by being deprived of the chance to speak for themselves. Particularly Coates calls out the common tendency to frame oppression as a necessary evil. “The status and pageantry can fool you. They look like symbols of wars long settled and on behalf of men long dead. But their Redemption is not about honoring a past. It’s about killing a future.” 

    One of America’s Most Gifted Writers

    In the end, Coates describes writing as about more than words. “All our conversations of technique, of rhythm and metaphor, ultimately come down to this — to the stories we tell, to the need to haunt, which is to say to make people feel all that is now at stake.” In a world with much at stake, he urges us not to settle for other people’s myths and stories or even our own, but to “require another standard — one that sees the sharpening of our writing as the sharpening of our quality of light.” 

    The Message is well worth the read. One of America’s most important and gifted writers offers us a quality of light that will illuminate our views, making us ponder the values shaping our world, discard the stories that no longer serve for good, and implement more just solutions for all.

    The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

    Publish Date: 10/1/2024

    Genre: Nonfiction

    Author: Ta-Nehisi Coates

    Page Count: 256 pages

    Publisher: ​​One World

    ISBN: 9780593230381

    View Original Source Here

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    Related Posts

    Interview with Cynthia Hamilton, Author of When Grifters Come Calling

    July 2, 2025

    Book Riot’s Deals of the Day for July 1, 2025

    July 2, 2025

    How Modern Research and Fiction Illuminate Family Legacy

    July 1, 2025

    Bold Business Books That Deliver

    July 1, 2025

    Review: Untangling: A Memoir of Psychoanalysis by Joan K. Peters

    July 1, 2025

    Supreme Court Says Parents Can “Opt Out” Of Positively-Affirming LGBTQ+ Public School Lessons

    June 30, 2025
    popular posts

    Jury orders Alex Jones to pay Sandy Hook parents $49

    90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After Season 7 Reveals an

    Jon Watts Explains Why He Left ‘Fantastic Four’ Project

    Flowers in the Attic: The Origin’s Hannah Dodd Ponders Corrine’s

    What is collagen good for?

    Weezer Release New EP Sznz: Autumn

    Scorpio Monthly Horoscope

    Categories
    • Books (3,263)
    • Cover Story (3)
    • Events (18)
    • Fashion (2,431)
    • Interviews (43)
    • Movies (2,562)
    • Music (2,840)
    • News (155)
    • Science (4,412)
    • Technology (2,555)
    • Television (3,284)
    • Uncategorized (932)
    Archives
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest YouTube Reddit TikTok
    © 2025 Top Buzz Magazine. All rights reserved. All articles, images, product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement unless specified. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
    Do not sell my personal information.
    Cookie SettingsAccept
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
    CookieDurationDescription
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
    viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
    Functional
    Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
    Performance
    Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
    Analytics
    Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
    Advertisement
    Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
    Others
    Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
    SAVE & ACCEPT