"In what is bound to be the most quoted passage from the book, you write that you watched the smoldering towers of 9/11 with a cold heart."

"At the time you felt the police and firefighters who died 'were menaces of nature; they were the fire, the comet, the storm, which could — with no justification — shatter my body.' You obviously do not mean that literally today (sometimes in your phrasing you seem determined to be misunderstood). You are illustrating the perspective born of the rage 'that burned in me then, animates me now, and will likely leave me on fire for the rest of my days.' I read this all like a slap and a revelation. I suppose the first obligation is to sit with it, to make sure the testimony is respected and sinks in. But 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?"

David Brooks addresses Ta-Nehisi Coates. The book under discussion is "Between the World and Me."