Ta-Nehisi Coates, THE BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE
June 5th, 2008
Host Francesca Rheannon talks with Ta-Nehisi Coates about his memoir, THE BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE. Coates grew up with his father, mother, siblings and half-siblings in an African American neighborhood in northwest Baltimore during the 1980’s. He was a kid when the crack epidemic hit Baltimore and sucked the life out of what had once been a thriving, intact, community. But then it changed and young black boys like Coates were faced with challenges that sent many of them over the cliff.
Ta-Nehisi Coates was luckier—he had a father who cared passionately about saving his boys, Ta-Nehisi and his older brother Bill, who were coming of age in the middle of the chaos.
Listen to Coates read an excerpt from his book:
And read his piece on Bill Cosby, “This is How We Lost to the White Man” in the May issue of The Atlantic Monthly.
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