when we come back, ta-nehisi coates part 2. ay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the acclaimed writer ta-nehisi coates made headlines this week on democracy now!, and newspapers on the networks, when he said on democracy now! that he would be voting for democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders. coates had previously penned a widely read article criticizing the vermont senator for saying he did not support reparations for slavery because it was too divisive an issue. but on wednesday, ta-nehisi coates told me he is voting for senator sanders anyway. >> one can say senator sanders should have more explicit antiracist policy within his racial justice platform, not just more general stuff, and still cast a vote for senator sanders and feel senator sanders is the best option that we have in the race. but just because that is the you're going to vote for, doesn't mean you have to agree with everything they say. amy: will you be voting for senator

your response, ta-nehisi coates? made three points but i want to respond to the last one, which is really, really important. we haven't seen anyone make an argument for imagine what reparations would look like. i have written very specifically about what it would look like in my case. in terms of the case of reparations, i focused on housing. and the problem done through redlining, which is not -- it was a racist form of damage. we need to be clear about that. it was specifically -- it specific damage to black people because they were black. in the case of red binding, we have the maps. we know were damaged. we know who lived there. in cases of, for instance, the g.i. bill or the loans that black people were not allowed to get, we have folks sekou go before claims office and say, i try to do this and it was denied to me. ofdon't have a problem knowing where folks live or what communities were affected. i would target those communities and those specific people, given they could prove what happened to them. that is a

the always-surprising journalist, author and blogger, ta-nehisi coates. i'm maria hinojosa. this is one on one. ta-nehisi coates, you're one of the senior editors for the atlantic monthly, you're a blogger, you live on twitter, you wrote this wonderful memoir called the beautiful struggle, about your relationship with your dad. it's great to have you on one on one. >> thank you. i'm honored to be here. >> hinojosa: so, put those two things together. i mean, did you say, "i'm going to be a writer," and then all of a sudden you realized that your life was on the internet or...? >> no, i wrote off-line, in print, for about 12 years almost exclusively, and it's so funny. colson whitehead has this recent piece about writers who complain that twitter and blogging is going to destroy their writing. and it's actually a split that i never really understood much. i love print, and i like blogging and i like tweeting. you know, i like a lot of things. and so it never really struck me as being in contrast or even being a problem or, you know, it being two different worlds or anything lik

. >> reporter: the influential writer ta-nehisi coates and harry bellefonte endorsed him today. >> i think he represents opportunity. i think he represents a moral imperative. >> reporter: when clinton and sanders face off here in milwaukee tonight, she'll argue that she will actually do more to carry on the legacy of the nation's first black president while he'll argue, scott, that he'll actually do more to help for things like free public college tuition. >> thanks very much. >>> the republican primary in south carolina is just nine days away and the attacks are getting louder and cruder. here's major garrett. >> we win here, we're going to run the table. >> reporter: donald trump in south carolina, by turns optimistic and vulgar. >> what the hell is this guy talking about? doing. >> senator marco rubio. >> reporter: marco rubio campaigning in the state with more conservative cultural instincts criticized trump's language on an assault on decency. >> you have a presidential candidate saying profanity from a stage. profanity from a stage. i mean, all these things undermine what we t

. >> reporter: the influential writer ta-nehisi coates called sanders the best option and harry belafonte endorsed him today. >> i think he represents opportunity. i think he represents a morar imperati. >> r rorter: when clintonon and sanders face off here in milwaukee tonight, she'll argue that she will actually do more to carry on the legacy of the nation's first black president, while he'll argue, scott, that he'll actually do more to help minorities with his proposals for things like free public college tuition. >> nancy, thanks very much. the republican primary in south and the attacks are getting louder and cruder. here's major garrett. >> we win here, we're going to run the table. >> reporter: donald trumumin south carolina, by turns optimistic and vulgar. >> what the hell is this guy talking about? i don't know what the hell i was doing. >> what the hell are we doing? >> senator marco rubio. >> reporter: marco rubio campaigning in the state with more c cservative cultural instincts criticized trump's language as an assault on decency. >> you turn on the tvs you have a leading pre

bernie sanders has the backing of activist ta-nehisi coates and actor harry belafonte. "i think he represents opportunity. i think he represents a moral imperative. i think he represents a certain kind of truth that's not often evidenced in the course of politics." >> catherine:racial politics will also be a factor in the next round of primaries on march first more than one=dozen states will hold elections or caucuses on so=called "super tuesday." and as you can see from this map, many of them are in the south. >> pam:after a brief visit to the bay area the president is now in southern california. president obama attended two democratic fundraisers while he was in town. he arrived wednesday afternoon and took off from moffett view just after 2-30 today. dozens watched the presidents departure from the bay and he didn't leave with out saying his hello's to a few little ones. the president will be in los angeles today and is headed to palm springs on friday. >> britteny: 7 and may another gorgeous to date we of record at the oakland airport. in the next couple days temper

author ta-nehisi coates announced he will be voting for bernie sanders. cornel west.chelle alexander came out in "the nation" with what many clinton supporters view as a scathing article. you're not surprised by that. >> no, i'm not. because there's this big myth that the african-american community is this sort of monolith that's behind the clintons, we declared him the first black president, we love him, and a lot of that is true. there is affection for the clintons. but it's not a bottomless well of affection. and for these younger voters their issue is mass incarceration. just like the latino community has a thousand blessings and a thousand problems, but the issue they have lifted up is immigration. they have other problems but they lifted that one up. >> many people would say the number one thing for hispanics and everyone, though, would be the economy. >> well, sure. but when you talk about what is the issue that they have lifted up as almost like a do or die issue, the immigration issue has been a dear issue. for these younger african-americans are black lives

. >> reporter: the influential writer ta-nehisi coates and harry bellefonte endorsed him today. >> i think he represents opportunity. i think he represents a moral imperative. >> reporter: when clinton and sanders face off here in milwaukee tonight, she'll argue that she will actually do more to carry on the legacy of the nation's first black president while he'll argue, scott, that he'll actually do more to help minorities with his proposals for things like free public college tuition. >> thanks very much. south carolina is just nine days away and the attacks are getting louder and cruder. here's major garrett. >> we win here, we're going to run the table. >> reporter: donald trump in south carolina, by turns optimistic and vulgar. >> what the hell is this guy talking about? i don't know what the hell i was doing. >> senator marco rubio. >> reporter: marco rubio campaigning in the state with more conservative cultural instincts criticized trump's language on an assault on decency. >> you have a presidential candidate saying profanity from a stage. profanity from a stage. i mean, all