National Book Award goes to father of Ta-Nehisi Coates, publisher of antisemitic books
W. Paul Coates, the father of journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, has won a prestigious National Book Award despite claims his company published a brazenly antisemitic novel.
The National Book Foundation, a literary nonprofit, has since defended its decision to award Coates its lifetime achievement award.
“The National Book Foundation condemns antisemitism, homophobia, Islamophobia, racism, and hatred in all its forms,” Ruth Dickey, the foundation’s executive director, told The Post in a statement.
“The National Book Foundation also supports freedom of expression and the right of any publisher to make its own determination on what it chooses to publish.”
The National Book Foundation added that Coates was “instrumental in preserving the legacy of remarkable writers and elevating works that have shaped our personal and collective understanding of the Black experience within the borders of the United States and around the globe.”
The foundation’s September announcement unveiling Coates as this year’s honoree faced backlash after the Jewish Insider reported that Black Classic Press, Coates’ Baltimore-based publishing house, was republishing “The Jewish Onslaught.”
The 1993 title was written by Tony Martin, then a tenured professor at Wellesley College who sparked controversy after he assigned students to read an excerpt from “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews.”
The book — which was reportedly published by the Nation of Islam — singled out Jews for their role in the Atlantic slave trade and the enslavements of Africans in America, according to an archived piece in The Atlantic from 1995 and a book published by the late Harold Brackman, a historian who specialized in African American-Jewish relations.
To defend himself, Martin then wrote “The Jewish Onslaught,” in which he claimed Jews owned more slaves than the white population as whole, according to the book review.
At the time of its publishing, Wellesley College and antisemitic organizations strongly criticized the book and its arguments.
Black Classic Books did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Coates’ son, Ta-Nehisi Coates, is a prominent journalist known for his books on race relations. His latest book, “The Message,” is a controversial essay collection in part about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He made headlines after a CBS interview in which he defended the book after co-anchor Tony Dokoupil accused him of extremism.
