Coates is smart, but not a great debater yet. As such, he's almost a soft diversion. In his answers to interviewers, he focuses repeatedly on anti-Arab racism's parallels to Jim Crow but makes no mention of well documented systemic discrimination against Jews of African origin in Israel. If he failed to notice it while visiting "the Jewish State", then he's not a qualified commentator.
Asked why single out Israeli savagery when the world is witness to similar atrocities elsewhere, Coates fails to note another utterly obvious fact: we have a unique responsibility to single out Israel because as Americans we're uniquely the lead enabler of Israeli neofascism.
Hard to respond to this as I have not read his book nor much of his writing. I am an Asian-American who was born and raised in the M.E. in adjacent countries (because of extremely harsh racist laws against ethnic Japanese during WWII that affected my father). My parents worked every day with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Syria (after the Nakba--they got there in 1946). A writer who has Black skin rather than White might be a little more sensitive to what Palestinians are going through--as is true of ANY American of color--but not enough to satisfy the question of why do you think Westerners have greater insight than any Arab writer or specifically Palestinian writer? Or even a Lebanese writer? This is my primary problem. Why would Coates think he is particularly insightful about the issue? Why would you? There are a multitude of Middle Eastern writers you should be discussing before you discuss Coates' take on the issue.
Why would any Black American enlist to go subjugate Lebanese as they did in the 1970's and 80's? (Or even in the 1950's when the Sixth Fleet came into the Beirut Harbor, an event I witnessed and remember very well.) Or Iraq? Or to carpet bomb Syria? Americans made fun of the Iranian students who took hostages in the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979 (most of them in cover jobs but working for the CIA, for the record, just as the students stated) and wanted to free the Black military guards because they did not hold African-Americans liable for American racism towards Iranians, which was INTENSE. The Iranian students understood the racist ideology that has always been part of American culture better than Americans did themselves. I do find it quite offensive--not that Coates wrote this book, but that his ten days count more than an entire lifetime and several MILLENIA in Palestine. Why would his 10 days in the country count so much more than 4-6,000 YEARS of a writer's family living in Palestine?
In the U.S., racism against Arabs, Muslims, and Iranians is far more acceptable than racism against African-Americans. That's the fundamental truth. That's why Coates can publish this book and why people read it and discuss it. It is also the reason genocide is acceptable to many Americans. This is incredibly painful to witness. After all these years, the more things change the more they stay the same.
For the record, Kamala Harris is of and from the Bay Area. She is just as aware of the Palestinian situation as anyone. She's making a political choice because if she says she is sympathetic towards the Palestinians she literally has no chance of even being the Democratic presidential candidate. That is why Bernie Sanders was manipulated out of the primary. Biden went from 8% of the primary vote to winning by a landslide after Bernie said Palestinians have rights too and supposedly African-Americans got behind Biden. There aren't enough African-American votes in this country to do that. Without the pro-Zionist leadership of the DNC, twice, Bernie Sanders would have been the candidate and most likely would have been President and Trump would have been a footnote. You cannot live in San Francisco and be unaware of the Palestinian situation. You don't have to have a conversation with Harris to know this.
I would refer readers to your Interview with Nurit Peled-Elhanan. She's a little testy and defensive but has a very helpful perspective on why Israelis are behaving as they are. They're on their way out. More and more people are giving Israel a prognosis of a year for survival as a "nation". I know the Peleds, both Nurit and Miko, don't agree with this. But I refer people who are interested in what's happened to the Israeli economy to read Shir Hever, or watch his interview online. He is no longer Israeli. He renounced his citizenship which is what every Israeli should do. As for African Jews, David Sheen has written extensively on this subject and has many video interview available. I lived under Jim Crow (mom from the south) but it cannot compare to the racism the Palestinians have lived with for a century-plus. I believe Coates is too young to have experienced it. I have experienced both.
Nosey Parker, your heart is in the right place but your comment is short on nuance. Promoting voices of Arabs and Muslims, no matter how authentic, is a false solution. Though well-intentioned, the idea can benefit the wrong side in our campaign against neocolonialism's spearhead, Israel. Egypt's "brave" sell-out president Anwar Sadat was Arab, as are the Jordanian royals enabling Israel. For an even starker example, let's behold the Phalange Arabs (aka Lebanese Forces) who massacred well over a thousand Palestinian refugees in two days in Sabra and Shatila camps.
Similarly if affiliation with Islam qualified someone as enlightened per se, Saudi-financed army generals wouldn't have toppled Egypt's first-ever democratically elected government in 2012 - well documented at the time by David Kirkpatrick of NY Times.
Coates is smart, but not a great debater yet. As such, he's almost a soft diversion. In his answers to interviewers, he focuses repeatedly on anti-Arab racism's parallels to Jim Crow but makes no mention of well documented systemic discrimination against Jews of African origin in Israel. If he failed to notice it while visiting "the Jewish State", then he's not a qualified commentator.
Asked why single out Israeli savagery when the world is witness to similar atrocities elsewhere, Coates fails to note another utterly obvious fact: we have a unique responsibility to single out Israel because as Americans we're uniquely the lead enabler of Israeli neofascism.
Hard to respond to this as I have not read his book nor much of his writing. I am an Asian-American who was born and raised in the M.E. in adjacent countries (because of extremely harsh racist laws against ethnic Japanese during WWII that affected my father). My parents worked every day with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Syria (after the Nakba--they got there in 1946). A writer who has Black skin rather than White might be a little more sensitive to what Palestinians are going through--as is true of ANY American of color--but not enough to satisfy the question of why do you think Westerners have greater insight than any Arab writer or specifically Palestinian writer? Or even a Lebanese writer? This is my primary problem. Why would Coates think he is particularly insightful about the issue? Why would you? There are a multitude of Middle Eastern writers you should be discussing before you discuss Coates' take on the issue.
Why would any Black American enlist to go subjugate Lebanese as they did in the 1970's and 80's? (Or even in the 1950's when the Sixth Fleet came into the Beirut Harbor, an event I witnessed and remember very well.) Or Iraq? Or to carpet bomb Syria? Americans made fun of the Iranian students who took hostages in the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979 (most of them in cover jobs but working for the CIA, for the record, just as the students stated) and wanted to free the Black military guards because they did not hold African-Americans liable for American racism towards Iranians, which was INTENSE. The Iranian students understood the racist ideology that has always been part of American culture better than Americans did themselves. I do find it quite offensive--not that Coates wrote this book, but that his ten days count more than an entire lifetime and several MILLENIA in Palestine. Why would his 10 days in the country count so much more than 4-6,000 YEARS of a writer's family living in Palestine?
In the U.S., racism against Arabs, Muslims, and Iranians is far more acceptable than racism against African-Americans. That's the fundamental truth. That's why Coates can publish this book and why people read it and discuss it. It is also the reason genocide is acceptable to many Americans. This is incredibly painful to witness. After all these years, the more things change the more they stay the same.
For the record, Kamala Harris is of and from the Bay Area. She is just as aware of the Palestinian situation as anyone. She's making a political choice because if she says she is sympathetic towards the Palestinians she literally has no chance of even being the Democratic presidential candidate. That is why Bernie Sanders was manipulated out of the primary. Biden went from 8% of the primary vote to winning by a landslide after Bernie said Palestinians have rights too and supposedly African-Americans got behind Biden. There aren't enough African-American votes in this country to do that. Without the pro-Zionist leadership of the DNC, twice, Bernie Sanders would have been the candidate and most likely would have been President and Trump would have been a footnote. You cannot live in San Francisco and be unaware of the Palestinian situation. You don't have to have a conversation with Harris to know this.
I would refer readers to your Interview with Nurit Peled-Elhanan. She's a little testy and defensive but has a very helpful perspective on why Israelis are behaving as they are. They're on their way out. More and more people are giving Israel a prognosis of a year for survival as a "nation". I know the Peleds, both Nurit and Miko, don't agree with this. But I refer people who are interested in what's happened to the Israeli economy to read Shir Hever, or watch his interview online. He is no longer Israeli. He renounced his citizenship which is what every Israeli should do. As for African Jews, David Sheen has written extensively on this subject and has many video interview available. I lived under Jim Crow (mom from the south) but it cannot compare to the racism the Palestinians have lived with for a century-plus. I believe Coates is too young to have experienced it. I have experienced both.
Nosey Parker, your heart is in the right place but your comment is short on nuance. Promoting voices of Arabs and Muslims, no matter how authentic, is a false solution. Though well-intentioned, the idea can benefit the wrong side in our campaign against neocolonialism's spearhead, Israel. Egypt's "brave" sell-out president Anwar Sadat was Arab, as are the Jordanian royals enabling Israel. For an even starker example, let's behold the Phalange Arabs (aka Lebanese Forces) who massacred well over a thousand Palestinian refugees in two days in Sabra and Shatila camps.
Similarly if affiliation with Islam qualified someone as enlightened per se, Saudi-financed army generals wouldn't have toppled Egypt's first-ever democratically elected government in 2012 - well documented at the time by David Kirkpatrick of NY Times.
Brilliant interview and discussion. Thank you both.