Kevin Williamson: Mr. Coates, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Thank you for coming; I’ve been looking forward to our discussion together.

Ta-Nehisi Coates: Mr. Williamson, likewise, and thank you for inviting me. I’ve read your response article on the National Review, and it seems as though we are not in total agreement over the issue of reparations. I think there are many points we can discuss one by one but I wanted to start with your closing sentence: “The people to whom reparations were owed are long dead; our duty is to the living, and to generations yet to come, and their interests are best served by liberty and prosperity, not by moral theater.” While I certainly see where you’re coming from, the issue is this mindset is not equally applied within our society. We look at the injustice suffered by black Americans for centuries and waive our hands saying that it’s all in the past – even though that past contributes significantly to the social and economic standing of blacks today and for years to come. But simultaneously, we must remember the soldiers who fought in Valley Forge, veterans of World War One, and President slave-holders like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. We forget the slave-holder and remember the veteran. Do we abide to the mindset that the past is the past and that we should move on, or do we pick on a case-by-case basis based on what’s convenient?

Kevin Williamson: Its true, we certainly disagree on points, but first, I think it’s important to note the effect your essay “The Case for Reparations” had in reviving the discussion of reparations and of how to proceed in dealing with the situation in which black Americans find themselves after centuries of discriminatory policies. On that topic of history, I think your essay succeeds in demonstrating that the systematic repression on black Americans is not a matter of the distant past, but rather an ongoing and unsettled issue.

Ta-Nehisi Coates: I’m glad that my essay has picked up so much attention. It’s a topic that’s extremely relevant today as it related to the wealth gap between blacks and whites. It’s therefore an issue that must be discussed, but that is being actively avoided. We are not only ignoring the sins of our past but also the sins of our present and future.

Kevin Williamson: You’re referring, in part, to HR 40?

Ta-Nehisi Coates: Of course! No matter which party was controlling the House at the time, it has never made it to the floor. Never. And think the reasoning lies in the fact that we have a country built on centuries of the preferential treatment of white people – a past which we won’t hear because it would cast a bad light. It wasn’t just public sentiment or the racist attitudes of a couple counties within the United State that led to discrimination for black Americans, it was also elevated to a matter of federal policy.

Kevin Williamson: So how do you reconcile the fact that some blacks are born into well-off families, and some whites are born into poor and troubled ones; should those blacks still receive reparations? Does one matter while the other does not? Couldn’t the wealth gap be solved by focusing on poverty, by which blacks are disproportionately affected, instead of race? Wouldn’t that divide the country less than reparations?

Ta-Nehisi Coates: How can we be more divided than we already are? The wealth gap is only a facet of what has resulted from centuries of on unfairness and plunder. And what’s to say that that well-off black households haven’t endured an uphill climb to where they are now? They are a minority, and as I said in my essay, for every Barack and Michelle Obama, Ethel Weatherspoon or Clyde Ross, there are so many thousands gone. Reparations go much further than monetary compensation. They are an acknowledgment of the true past, “an airing of family secrets, a settling with old ghosts.” This spiritual renewal, this reckoning, is what is needed for our country to progress and begin undoing the wrongs perpetuated in the past?

Kevin Williamson: What are your thoughts on other immigrant groups that were able to close the wealth gap despite being unwelcome?

Ta-Nehisi Coates: I don’t think that is a fair to comparison to make. Black Americans, by far, have endured the brunt of America’s debilitating discrimination, and it must be acknowledged.