AN OPEN LETTER TA-NEHISII COATES. “Because I write as a black immigrant who chose to live in the United States, whose biggest hope as a child was to become an American citizen, and who chose to embrace the American Dream you condemn, please consider these words my Declaration of Independence—an independence that only my beloved America could have given to me.”

Coates’ schtick has grown tedious, but it’s what he’s got.