Is this a trick question? Apparently Bernie Sanders was asked whether he supported reparations last week, and – alas – Bernie Sanders was smart enough to say ‘No.’ This apparently upset Ta-Nehisi Coates, although I’m not sure why. It’s like getting upset that the guy in front of you doesn’t need to make a right-hand turn even though he could so totally turn right on red. What’s the point, really? That’s just the way it goes.
Note, by the way, that I have deliberately insulted Ta-Nehisi Coates’ pet hobbyhorse by explicitly comparing it to the completely unjustified internal whining people will indulge themselves with whenever the universe does not immediately conform to their desires. I’m waving and pointing this out because I’d like to make it clear that I am pretty contemptuous of people with as low a level of self-esteem as Mr. Coates apparently has. I mean, I know that a lot of white progressives love to beat their breasts and wail while they’re being lectured to about reparations. And I grant that a man has to eat. Still. If writing that sort of thing was the only way I could get paid for writing, I do believe that I’d go work in a gas station instead.