Ta-Nehisi Coates comes to UNCA in February; Some hope for emphasis on reparations

Sarah Honosky, Asheville Citizen Times
·3 min read
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Ta-Nehisi Coates
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ASHEVILLE - Award-winning author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates is coming to UNC Asheville Feb. 28 for a reading and question-and-answer session.

It's a conversation that Dwight Mullen, a retired political science and Africana studies professor at UNC Asheville, hopes will steer toward a topic that has made headlines in Asheville for more than two years now: reparations, and what means for the city.

"It's a huge deal," Mullen said of Coates' visit. Mullen was not involved in the organization of the event, and doesn't know what Coates will discuss with faculty, students or others on campus, but said he would be remiss if reparations wasn't a focus.

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Dr. Dwight Mullen was one of the first Black professors at the University of North Carolina Asheville and is responsible for many newly established programs there, including Native American Studies.
Dr. Dwight Mullen was one of the first Black professors at the University of North Carolina Asheville and is responsible for many newly established programs there, including Native American Studies.

Mullen is chair of Asheville's historic Community Reparations Commission, a 25-member board intended to make short, medium, and long-term recommendations that will make progress toward repairing the damage caused by public and private systemic racism going back 400 years to the time of slavery to the Jim Crow era and even today with large gaps in wealth, education, health and more between Black and white residents. The commission was officially seated in April.

Coates is the author of the bestselling books "The Beautiful Struggle," "We Were Eight Years in Power," "The Water Dancer," and "Between the World and Me," which received the National Book Award in 2015, according to a post by UNCA in December.

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Over his two-decade career, Coates has written for The New York Times and The Atlantic, where he penned the National Magazine Award-winning 2012 essay, "Fear of a Black President."

In the fall of 2022, Coates joined the faculty of Howard University as a writer-in-residence and the Sterling Brown Chair in the Department of English.

For many years, Coates' name has been synonymous with discussions of reparations. His 2014 article in The Atlantic, "The Case for Reparations" brought more mainstream attention to reparations and inspired countless conversations. In 2020, it was named the "Top Work of Journalism of the Decade," by a panel of judges convened by New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.

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Due in part to his article's wide impact, Coates was invited to testify in front of the U.S. House of Representatives on the issue of reparations five years after the article's publication, which he did in 2019.

Mullen said numerous UNCA departments are teaching courses or leading projects related to reparations and Asheville's ongoing efforts. He hopes Coates can help contribute even more to this conversation.

Chairman Dwight Mullen listens to committee members during a Community Reparation Commission meeting on June 6, 2022.
Chairman Dwight Mullen listens to committee members during a Community Reparation Commission meeting on June 6, 2022.

“Honestly, what I would like for them to emphasize is his work on reparations,” Mullen said.

He noted Coates' ability to connect simultaneously with Black and white audiences.

"I’m hoping he does that here. And one of the things particularly he is good at is explaining ... the social and cultural need for reparations to be made. He tells stories, he talks about people," Mullen said.

“And in Western North Carolina, narratives about people cross cultural lines. It’s part of the mountain tradition. I think it’s a tradition in the South ... to use narrative to get across life lessons.”

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UNCA will host its conversation with Coates in the Sherrill Center’s Kimmel Arena at 7 p.m. on Feb. 28. The event is free and open to all but requires advanced registration through Eventbrite.

This event is part of the Equity & Arts series at UNCA and is sponsored by the Chancellor’s Office, Office of Institutional Equity, Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Key Center and the Humanities Program.

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. 

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Ta-Nehisi Coates talk at UNC Asheville reparations conversation