“one of the leading American writers on race.”
“one of the most important chroniclers of the modern black experience.”
“one of our foremost cultural critics and quite possibly the best living writer on race in America.”
These were a few of the dozens of recurring statements made by journalists about Ta-Nehisi Coates.
You’re listening to Remarkable Receptions — a podcast about popular and critical responses to African American novels and more.
On September 22, 2015, Marvel Comics announced that they hired Ta-Nehisi Coates to write the comic book Black Panther, which would be released in April 2016. The announcement that one of the major comic book companies would employ a major Black writer drew widespread attention, with dozens of news outlets publishing articles about this development.
Embedded in several of the articles was a recurring compliment about Coates. Journalists described him as one of the leading writers on race. Or, as a writer for GQ magazine put it, Coates was “quite possibly the best living writer on race in America.”
Somehow, commentators had turned conversations on race into a race, into a competition, where there could be a leader. A winner. The best.
To his credit, Coates disapproved of this line of compliments. He spoke out against the “leader on race” idea in interviews. On his blog, he wrote disparagingly about the habit of commentors anointing him or any one writer as the best on race.
He wanted people to know that there are many, countless contributors to discussions on race, racism, and black experience in America. But ultimately, Coates could hardly control how journalists and other commentators chose to describe him.
And of course, in the long history of African American writing, there is far, far more indifference than acclaim. Given the lack of appraisals received by so many Black writers, perhaps over-complimenting is a good thing?
No. No it isn’t.
In the case of Coates or whoever the current chosen Black writer is at a given moment, highlighting a single, individual Black writer as “the” leader or even as one of the leaders diminishes the contributions of so many others.
There are many useful contributors on race in America.
There are networks of thoughtful writers producing compositions illuminating understanding of race, racism, and culture.
Our foremost cultural critics write about race and literature and gender and film and socio-economic status and television and music and sexuality and comic books and ethnicity and sports and geography. Too often, the focus on a singular figure, a focus on “the one” is a kind of missed reception.
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This episode was written by Howard Rambsy. The episode was edited by Elizabeth Cali.
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This podcast, Remarkable Receptions, is part of the Black Literature Network, a joint project from African American literary studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the History of Black Writing at the University of Kansas. The project was made possible by the generous support of the Mellon Foundation. For more information, visit blacklitnetwork.org.