There’s still such a dearth of intellectuals among African-Americans in our society (due to all kinds of complex factors, so I’m not addressing here the issue of who’s to blame for this situation) that anyone who looks more or less “black” and can speak and write in more or less complete and coherent sentences that have a more or less rhetorical sweep to them suffices to fill the role. That’s hyperbole, of course, and I have no doubt the situation will change at some point, but for now, it remains too often the case. The regressive left’s fawning admiration for Ta-Nehisi Coates is due partly to this phenomenon, partly due to fear that publicly condemning his bigotry will get them ostracized amongst their like-minded friends and partly due to the fact that when someone writes things that are long, bold and “epic-feeling,” that’s often mistaken for quality.