Conversation With Paul Coates
A leader in Baltimore communities since the 1970s, Paul Coates is an important figure in the world of publishing. His company Black Classic Press celebrated 40 years of operations last year, and is a “leading publisher and distributor of literature of literature by and about members of the black diaspora” (Baltimore Magazine). Mr. Coates is also the father of author Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose book “The Beautiful Struggle” the students have been reading.
Here’s what Olivia, one of our students, wrote about Mr. Coates’ visit:
“I thought the conversation with Paul Coates was very interesting. I liked that he took an interest in the students during introductions. Mr. Paul was a lot more relaxed than I thought he would be. I thought he would seem just a little bit more uptight. I liked hearing about his thoughts on the Black Panther Party. I got the idea that Mr. Paul wanted to be in the Black Panther Party even if he was sacrificing something of his own. I thought the idea of everyone being equal and wanting to bring everyone together was interesting and a good thought to have.
I also thought it was cool when Mr. Paul was talking about the importance of reading and the importance of the education at The Community School. I could see again that here at TCS you are getting an education worth something. Hearing Mr. Paul talk about Ta-Nehisi and Ta-Nehisi’s name was interesting. Hearing about Mr. Paul’s thoughts on Ta-Nehisi’s book was cool and interesting. Mr. Paul surprised me when he was talking about his take on parenting, but it made complete sense. I wouldn’t have thought that when he was raising Ta-Nehisi he was just going along with what was happening and doing what he thought was best in the moment. That one idea–of doing what you think is best in the moment–is really interesting, but smart.
It is so cool that we read a book and we got to meet one of the characters/people in the book. That is something that doesn’t normally happen. It’s like wishing you could sit down with a character from a book and get to talk with them, except getting to talk with the character really happened.”