Why Ta-Nehisi Coates Was Afraid to Speak Up in Support of Palestine
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MIAMI, FL - NOVEMBER 04: An Evening With Author Ta-Nehisi Coates in conversation with Elliott Jones about Ta-Nehisi Coates new book “THE WATER DANCER” presented by Books & Books in collaboration with Miami Book Fair at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on November 4, 2019 in Miami, Florida.
Acclaimed author Ta-Nehisi Coates has joined a growing list of public figures calling for an end to the bombardment of the Gaza Strip and justice for the Palestinian people.
After traveling to Palestine and Israel earlier this year, Coates says he had a responsibility to speak out on what he witnessed. “There’s no way for me as an African American to come back and stand before you, to witness segregation and not say anything about it,” Coates told Democracy Now.
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Coates told Amy Goodman on Democracy Now that he expected to find a morally gray situation when he arrived in the occupied territories, but instead, it was immediately clear what was happening.
“It suddenly dawned on me that I was in a region of the world where some people could vote and some people could not,” he said. “I got to Hebron, and we got out as a group of writers, and we were given a tour by our Palestinian guide. And we got to a certain street, and he said to us, “I can’t walk down this street. If you want to continue, you have to continue without me.” And that was shocking to me.”
Coates went on to address the White House’s actions in Gaza, calling out President Joe Biden for his dismissal of the Palestinian death toll. “At some point, you know, there’s that saying: When people show you who they are, you have to believe them,” he said. “And so, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to do the political calculus on this. And I think at a certain point, we have to just stop and say, “They believe it.” They believe it. They believe bombs should be dropped on children. They just think it’s OK. They think it’s OK, or at the very least, they think it’s the price of doing business.”
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