New York Times Columnist David Brooks Blasted for White Privilege Letter to Ta-Nehisi Coates

“David Brooks displays more white privilege in one column than some white people do in a lifetime,” progressive news website Salon tweets

david brooks

New York Times columnist David Brooks was slammed on Twitter Friday after he wrote a column — in the form of a letter to The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates — about Coates’ new book about the African-American experience and white privilege.

Brooks’ “Listening to Ta-Nehisi Coates While White” compliments Coates’ “searing contribution to the public education,” but then switches gears to criticize the book, “Between the World and Me.”

“The disturbing challenge of your book is your rejection of the American dream,” Brooks wrote. “My ancestors chose to come here. For them, America was the antidote to the crushing restrictiveness of European life, to the pogroms. For them, the American dream was an uplifting spiritual creed that offered dignity, the chance to rise.”

Brooks goes on to argue Coates’ book distorted American history and asks if he has the standing to criticize it.

“I have to ask, Am I displaying my privilege if I disagree? Is my job just to respect your experience and accept your conclusions? Does a white person have standing to respond?”

Brooks, one of the most polarizing columnists in the country, has been taken to task.

Salon, which has made a sport of Brooks bashing, wrote a review of Brook’s column, and opined that “the Times columnist displays more white privilege in one column than some white people experience in a lifetime.”

Social media was even more frosty to Brooks.

David Brooks was trending on Twitter Friday morning.

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