Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Ignored Issue of Slavery
Ta-Nehisi Coates appears to ignore the issue of slavery but concentrates on issues such as the Jim Crow segregation. Considerably, it is important to note that with slavery, the white community used to execute it blatantly. In this case, when Africans were being taken to Europe and other areas, it was evident that the focus was to use for labor purposes. However, you notice that the Jim Crow experience and the FHA redlining was a clandestine approach to ensure that African Americans do not prosper financially. Also, during the slavery period, there was lack of institutions to fight for the rights of the African Americans. However, at the moment that the American society was experiencing activities such as Jim Crow segregation and the redlining, some institutions could fight for Africans. As such, Coates' decision to avoid issues of slavery was a distinct way of ensuring that he points the evils that the majority meted on African Americans despite the existence of institutions. In the article, Coates (2014) narrates a story about Clyde Ross who was intimidated despite serving the American army. What this means is that in the past the whites did not want anything related to African American empowerment.
Reference
Coates, T. (2014). The Case for Reparations. The Atlantic. Retrieved 26 March 2018, from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
