Ta-Nehisi Coates has attracted controversy and discussion given his decades as a reporter and writer who tackles themes as carefully as one can without pulling punches when necessary. In a recent appearance on CBS News’ morning program, Ta-Nehisi Coates engaged in what appeared to be an intense debate with co-host Tony Dokoupil regarding a segment in his book that touches on the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict.
Ta-Nehisi Coates was on CBS Mornings to discuss his newest book, The Message, a trio of essays regarding the writer’s visits to Senegal, South Carolina, and the Israel-Gaza region and draws some significant parallels to the idea of what it means to belong.
Tony Dokoupil, who seemingly angled to dominate the segment with his questioning, went on the offensive by framing Coates’ book as something you would in the backpack of an anti-Israeli extremist. It should be noted that Dokoupil’s ex-wife and his two older children are living in Israel currently and he is currently married to Katy Tur, who is of Jewish descent.
Coates gamely took on the challenge of attempting to explain himself in the face of Dokoupil’s critiques of his work.
“You write a book that delegitimizes the pillars of Israel. It seems like an effort to topple the whole building of it,” Dokoupil said. “So I come back to the question, and it’s what I struggled with throughout this book, what is it that so particularly offends you about the existence of a Jewish state that is a Jewish safe place and not any of the other states out there?”
Coates answered, “There’s nothing that offends me about a Jewish state. I am offended by the idea of states built on ethnocracy, no matter where they are. I would not want a state where any group of people lay down their citizenship rights based on ethnicity. The country of Israel is a state in which half the population exist on one tier of citizenship and everybody else that’s ruled by Israelis exist on another tier, including Palestinian Israeli citizens. The only people that exist on that first tier are Israeli Jews. Why do we support that? Why is that okay? I’m the child of Jim Crow. I’m the child of people that were born into a country where that was exactly the case, of American apartheid.”
It didn’t appear that any stance Ta-Nehisi Coates took satisfied the curiosities of Tony Dokoupil and co-hosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson remained oddly quiet during the segment. The moment has caused a stir online and probably deserves far more nuance than we have the space to examine here. That said, a larger discussion should arise from this considering both gentlemen had points to make but couldn’t be exhaustive in their explanations.
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