We Were Eight Years in Power

By Ta-Nehisi Coates

Book Review

Impressions

It is thought that the first documented African slaves arrived on these shores in the year 1612.

This book is so rich in historical benchmarks and telling(s) of times and people that sculptured who we are as a nation. There’s little space in this review to highlight all the points discussed. They are all so very relevant.  So, I’ll speak to a few.

I waited a long time for this journal; the writing is better than I’d hoped. In each generation, an African American author presents to the world a treatise that paints a vivid picture in eloquent terms that speak to the heart. This compilation points the way to understanding the deeper aspects of our culture. Mr. Coates’ research results are a brilliant and honest body of work and art.

He began with our most recent history.

Demographic numbers reveal a balancing of economic shifts in opportunity. But the same numbers show a huge gap in freedom of choice for us. We saw our country's choice for Barack Obama, POTUS 44. This prideful offering represents how we view African Americans and America’s values.  But delving deeper, we mirror old truths about our race.  Our gratification did not stem from just the color of his skin but rather the fact of his bona fide. The character with which he conducts his life.

The author captures this sentiment superbly.  

To many of us in Chicago, Barack Obama is the incarnation of what the old dreamers back in the day and just up from the south envisioned as possible. Barack is considered an expression of all that is good in our culture. Mr. Coates’ details of the times and social conditions surrounding that election are brilliant journalism. His firsthand account of Michelle's primary and general roles during those history-making moments should be a must-read for aspiring journalists.  It goes beyond simple social studies.

We’re the hidden American culture.

The book explores candidly how Michelle Obama’s middle-class upbringing seemed to be a subject of discovery for many Americans. The debates about whether she was a proud American or not grew into a national phenomenon. It raged on explaining how the anathema amongst the White populists justified the events leading to the formation of the Tea Party. This aspect of American culture cannot be defined or explained enough. Coates clarified in painful detail this false narrative that helped propel theories as fact that the first African American President was not a true American; in some quarters, he lacked human attributes. It’s a painful reminder.  

This book peels away so much of what White Americans have chosen not to address or understand about our post-World War II parentage.  Coming up from the South, they built communities where our doctors were black, and the lawyers, real estate brokers, grocers, and butchers were all people of color. It was considered disrespectful to patronize a white business when there were “our people” needing the work. African America enjoyed with pride insular communities. The author captures this recollection with care and great understanding.

 “The South Side was almost a black world unto itself, replete with the economic and cultural complexity of the greater city. There were debutantes and cotillions, as well as gangs and drug addicts. Mostly, there were men like Fraser Robinson, black people working a job, trying to get by. The diversity and the demographics allowed the Robinsons to protect their kids from the street life, and also from digest, personal racism.”

Reparation is to make amends, to bring whole what was taken.  

Coates’ views on the “banditry” of African Americans argue brilliantly the reasons for his heartbreak on this subject. The robbing of African Americans of heritage and vows of reparations is explored in this book. He explains the machinations surrounding broken promises made of forty acres and a mule to the various failed social reforms I’ll address later in this review.

The only thing missing in this chapter is the harsh reality of the lack of economic value our country still holds for its African American communities.  I’ve not to date viewed a plausible quant study on the cost to the Negro culture. It is indeed worth taking a knee for. According to the statistics in this book, there’s continued harshness visited upon African Americans; we’ve certainly earned the right to protest these egregious symptoms of imbalance peacefully.

It is hard to convey how needful it is for everyone to understand that we are not a “Photonegative of each other” – Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Honesty

Coates uses as an example social economist like Patrick Moynihan, who lent his brilliance to creating various iterations of social programs meant to alleviate the Negro plight. Most failed, and instead of them becoming teachable times, they more often created deeper chasms of social wrongs. These social experiments have left indelible societal scars that will last for generations.

The end of marginalization is a generational and much-wish-for event. And yet here we are again…more “the other” than ever…. or so it sometimes seems.

Story/Plot/Conflict

Where do we go from here?  This story seems ageless, but this writing will rank among the finest examples of journalism.

The plot is yet to be discovered. Not until the current American culture understands the nature of marginalization and its hideous influence on socioeconomics and sovereign survival. Will this “plot” ever be understood?

The conflict lies in the need to dismiss and not read books like this that bring some understanding to the why of our selective ignorance about each other.

Critiques

This work is a must-read for everyone. No matter the country or culture, there are lessons in this book that are needful to humanity. Ta-Nehisi Coates joins the esteemed ranks of this generation’s finest authors.

Thank you, Mr. Coates