15:I[66739,["/_next/static/chunks/0_jglizaxuvid.js?dpl=dpl_3DD9m2VJCfF4backj8XFu57cygkx","/_next/static/chunks/00yc4h63rurg4.js?dpl=dpl_3DD9m2VJCfF4backj8XFu57cygkx","/_next/static/chunks/01b21njbdx~~m.js?dpl=dpl_3DD9m2VJCfF4backj8XFu57cygkx","/_next/static/chunks/14s118kzsmuz9.js?dpl=dpl_3DD9m2VJCfF4backj8XFu57cygkx","/_next/static/chunks/166.u_60qj09..js?dpl=dpl_3DD9m2VJCfF4backj8XFu57cygkx","/_next/static/chunks/0g9_wl34k-6l4.js?dpl=dpl_3DD9m2VJCfF4backj8XFu57cygkx","/_next/static/chunks/0~r4f.cjjsl~b.js?dpl=dpl_3DD9m2VJCfF4backj8XFu57cygkx"],"default"] 17:I[38632,["/_next/static/chunks/0qqtp3r0h7kah.js?dpl=dpl_3DD9m2VJCfF4backj8XFu57cygkx","/_next/static/chunks/0iukvycbd42rl.js?dpl=dpl_3DD9m2VJCfF4backj8XFu57cygkx"],"IconMark"] 16:T4ff,

Few writers have pressed more urgently on the tension between history and morality than Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Last fall, on the heels of his new book The Message, Coates joined Sam for a conversation live in Los Angeles. At the top, they discuss how his Atlantic piece The Case for Reparations guided these three new essays (6:10), Coates’ early education growing up in West Baltimore (14:57), and his powerful dispatches from South Carolina (22:00) and the Middle East (29:30).

On the back-half, Coates unpacks why he believes the mainstream media prioritizes “factual complexity over self-evident morality” (37:47), his advocacy for Palestinian journalists (39:20), and his reflections about the U.S. election (47:28). To close, a formative passage from James Baldwin's The Lost Generation (52:38) and a story about love and writing (57:45).

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at talkeasypod@gmail.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ta-Nehisi Coates Has a Message to Deliver. Can We Hear It?

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Ta-Nehisi Coates Has a Message to Deliver. Can We Hear It?