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Coleman Hughes

3 26 maj rep

4:20

wondering this because I've never seen

4:22

anyone quite like you going after

4:25

victims of sex crimes and attacking them

4:28

like this. So, you must be being paid by

4:31

someone in power um who does not like

4:34

these accusations that have been made

4:35

against them. And I think I think it's

4:37

fair to ask, are you being paid by any

4:40

of the men who've been accused by

4:41

Jeffrey Epstein?

4:47

I I'm I'm having trouble hearing right

4:48

now. I wish I could respond to whatever

4:50

nonsense she just blurted out.

4:53

you have ever been paid

4:56

inflammatory nonsense. But maybe

4:58

somebody can

5:00

astonish an astonishing an astonishing

5:03

coincidence that you suddenly lost your

5:05

hearing when you were asked a very

5:06

difficult question. I'm rather telling

5:09

it. I may say

5:10

I heard

5:11

okay I'm not saying you didn't get cut.

5:13

I'm just saying if he can hear you. Can

5:15

you ask him that question? Cuz he can't

5:17

hear me. But maybe he can hear you

5:18

asking that question. I think it's

5:20

Michael. Can you hear me? Did you just

5:23

ask me very faintly? Are did you just

5:25

allege that I'm somehow implicated in

5:27

the Epstein criminality or did I misar

5:30

you?

5:30

No.

5:31

I asked Tara asked if you're being Tara

5:34

asked if you're being paid by anybody to

5:38

smear the victims of the

5:39

EP. Rather than defend the merits of her

5:42

journalistic output, which she can't

5:43

because it's indefensible. What does she

5:45

do? She tries to impugn me personally.

5:47

tries to imply or

5:50

you're not what's the answer to the

5:51

question? Of course, I'm not the answer.

5:56

I'm so glad we let that run. So, Matt

5:57

hadn't seen that and you were shocked.

6:00

I think he's lying. Just uh had to

6:02

guess.

6:03

So, does Piers Morgan,

6:05

it's a coincidence he stopped hearing

6:07

her at that particular moment.

---

Coleman Hughes - Wikipedia

Coleman Cruz Hughes (born February 25, 1996[1]) is an American writer and podcast host. He was a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and a fellow and contributing editor at their City Journal, and he is the host of the podcast Conversations with Coleman. As of March 2026, he is a visiting professor at the University of Austin.

Early life and education

Hughes is of African-American[2][3] and Puerto Rican descent, and grew up in Montclair, New Jersey.[4] His mother died when he was 19.[5]

Hughes graduated from Newark Academy high school and was selected as a United States Presidential Scholar in 2014.[6] He subsequently attended the Juilliard School and studied jazz trombone but later dropped out, due to his mother's death.[7][8][9] After attending Columbia University, he graduated in 2020 with a B.A. in philosophy.[10]

Career

:{On June 19, 2019, Hughes testified before a U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee at a hearing on reparations for slavery, arguing against the campaign.[11][12][13] He argued that "[i]f we were to pay reparations today, we would only divide the country further, making it harder to build the political coalitions required to solve the problems facing Black people today."[14] In this vein, he highlighted mass incarceration and high homicide victimization rates as problems affecting Black Americans today.[12]

He suggested an alternative proposal of paying reparations to Black Americans who personally grew up under Jim Crow.[12] Hughes went on to say that reparations to the descendants of slaves would insult many Black Americans and claimed they would make him and the "one-third of Black Americans who poll against reparations into victims without their consent."[12]}:

In addition to writing for Quillette,[15] Hughes has contributed to publications including The Spectator,[16] The New York Times,[17] The Wall Street Journal,[18] National Review,[19] the Washington Examiner,[20] and the Heterodox Academy blog.[21] In May 2020, he became a fellow of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and contributing editor of their City Journal.[22] Hughes is listed as a scholar for the 1776 Unites project.[23] In February 2020, Hughes debated Julianne Malveaux on iHeartRadio's Munk Debates regarding the topic of slavery reparations.[24]

Hughes is the host of the podcast Conversations with Coleman.[25]

He is a visiting professor at the University of Austin.[26]

2023 TED Talk

In April 2023, Hughes delivered a talk at the annual TED conference in Vancouver, Canada. Defending the idea of racial color blindness, he explained his perspective on treating people without regard to their race as individuals and in public policy. His talk encountered criticism from TED leadership and an internal employee group named "Black@TED", with efforts being made to prevent its release.

Chris Anderson, the head of TED, informed Hughes of internal opposition, citing a social scientist's claim that Hughes's talk delivered an inaccurate message.[citation ^needed] Hughes disputed this claim, arguing that the referenced research[clarification ^needed] actually supported his position. TED proposed an unusual release strategy, combining his talk with a moderated debate, to which Hughes reluctantly agreed in order to ensure his message was heard. His opponent in the discussion, Jamelle Bouie, agreed with Hughes that race neutrality (i.e., racial color blindness) was preferable for personal interactions but argued that public policy should be more race-conscious.[27]

Views

In his 2024 book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America, Hughes argues that the aim of colorblindness is not to avoid "noticing" race but "to consciously disregard race as a reason to treat individuals differently and as a category on which to base public policy".[28]

Hughes says he formerly believed the premise of Black Lives Matter—that, in his words, "racist cops are killing unarmed Black people"—but now believes that the existence of racial bias in deadly shootings does not survive scrutiny once factors other than race are taken into account. He has cited research from Roland G. Fryer Jr. and Sendhil Mullainathan, among others, in support of his stance.[29] On the murder of George Floyd, Hughes believes that "there was clearly reasonable doubt on whether Chauvin caused Floyd's death".[30]

Hughes has critiqued attempts to understand the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through parallels with colonialism, Jim Crow, and apartheid, arguing that a simplistic identification of the Black American struggle with that of the Palestinians does not do justice to Black history.[31] He has suggested that the return of diaspora Jews bears closer comparison with the return of Black Americans to Liberia, adding that both movements are open to similar criticisms in retrospect. He believes that Israel's war in Gaza does not constitute a genocide and has debated the topic on The Joe Rogan Experience.[32]

Hughes voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election.[33]

Reception

Writing in The Washington Post in 2018, Megan McArdle called Hughes "an undergraduate at Columbia University but already a thinker to be reckoned with."[2] Nick Gillespie wrote in Reason in 2019 that Hughes had "emerged over the past year as one of the most prolific and insightful commentators on race and class in the United States."[4] In 2020, Christopher Bollen wrote in Interview that Hughes "has become one of the most compelling and promising voices on the political landscape."[25] In September 2020, Stéphanie Chayet, writing in the French newspaper Le Monde, identified Hughes as one of four "anti-conformists of anti-racism," along with Glenn Loury, Thomas Chatterton Williams, and John McWhorter.[34] In December 2020, Hughes was listed on the *Forbes* 30-under-30 list for 2021 in the Media category.[35]

Music

Hughes began studying violin at age three.[36] He is a hobbyist rapper—in 2021 and 2022, he released several rap singles on YouTube and Spotify, using the moniker COLDXMAN, including a music video for a track titled "Blasphemy",[37] which appeared in January 2022. Hughes also plays jazz trombone with a Charles Mingus tribute band that played regularly at the Jazz Standard in New York City, before the club closed in December 2020.[4]

Bibliography

References

  1. Hughes, Coleman [@coldxman] (February 5, 2021). "I don't know who you're supposed to complain to about this sort of thing, but" (Tweet). Retrieved February 5, 2021 – via Twitter.
  2. McArdle, Megan (July 20, 2018). "The puzzle of race and wealth". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  3. "African American families of Monticello". monticello.org. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  4. Gillespie, Nick (March 8, 2019). "23-Year-Old Coleman Hughes Is Reframing the Discussion on Race: Podcast". Reason. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  5. Staff, Baristanet (February 18, 2015). "R.I.P. Santa Cruz Hughes". Montclair Local. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  6. "6 NJ high school students are named 2014 U.S. Presidential Scholars". NJ.com. May 5, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  7. "Jazz at one: Coleman Hughes". Jazz House Kids. November 5, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  8. bncu (October 16, 2017). "Coleman Hughes (CC '20)". beets & noodz. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  9. Peters, Jeremy W. (February 1, 2024). "The Young Black Conservative Who Grew Up with, and Rejects, D.E.I." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  10. "Coleman Hughes". Manhattan Institute. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  11. "Hearing on Slavery Reparations". c-span.org. National Cable Satellite Corporation. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  12. Coates, Ta-Nehisi; Hughes, Coleman (June 19, 2019). "Should America pay reparations for slavery? Ta-Nehisi Coates v Coleman Hughes". The Guardian. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
  13. Handa, Sahil (June 21, 2019). "In Defense of Coleman Hughes". National Review. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  14. Naranjo, Jesse (June 19, 2019). "Slavery Reparations Issue Gets Rare Hearing on Hill". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  15. "America is having an unprecedented debate about reparations. What comes next?". June 20, 2019.
  16. "Author: Coleman Hughes". The Spectator.
  17. Hughes, Coleman; Jensen, Taige (February 28, 2019). "Opinion - The Gay, Black Civil Rights Hero Opposed to Affirmative Action". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  18. Hughes, Coleman (January 17, 2019). "Martin Luther King, Colorblind Radical". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  19. "Coleman Hughes". National Review. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  20. Hughes, Coleman. "The puzzle of racial preferences". Washington Examiner. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  21. "A Tale of Two Columbia Classes". heterodoxacademy.org. January 29, 2018.
  22. "Joining City Journal". Manhattan Institute. May 26, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  23. "Scholars". 1776 Unites. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  24. "Reparations". Munk Debates. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  25. Bollen, Christopher (May 11, 2020). "Ask a Sane Person: Coleman Hughes is not Panicking at All". Interview. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  26. "Coleman Hughes". uaustin.org. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  27. Friedersdorf, Conor (September 3, 2023). "How race-consciousness can affect relationships". The Atlantic. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  28. Peters, Jeremy (February 1, 2024). "The Young Black Conservative Who Grew Up with, and Rejects, D.E.I." The New York Times.(subscription required)
  29. McLaughlin, Dan (June 16, 2020). "Does It Matter What the Police-Shooting Data Show?". National Review. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  30. Hughes, Coleman (June 13, 2024). "On Derek Chauvin, George Floyd, and Reasonable Doubt". The Free Press. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  31. Hughes, Coleman (November 15, 2023). "Coleman Hughes: The Struggle for Black Freedom Has Nothing to Do with Israel". The Free Press. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  32. Griffing, Alex (April 5, 2024). "Author Coleman Hughes Goes Hard Against Joe Rogan for Claiming Israel Is Committing 'Genocide' in Gaza". Mediaite. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  33. Hughes, Coleman (October 30, 2020). "Why I'm Voting For Biden – Bonus". colemanhughes.org. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  34. Chayet, Stéphanie (September 18, 2020). "Les anticonformistes de l'antiracisme". Le Monde.fr (in French).
  35. Garret, Briane. "30-Under-30 2021". Forbes.com.

36.*Identity Politics and Racism | Coleman Hughes | Forward with Andrew Yang*, April 21, 2022, retrieved April 28, 2022

37.*COLDXMAN – Blasphemy (Official Music Video)*, January 17, 2022, retrieved April 26, 2022

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Coleman Hughes.

QUITE A BIT TALK 3 26

...Notability

It seems to me that certain actors are attempting to use Wikipedia as a means of promoting figures associated with the "Intellectual Dark Web." Lindsay Shepherd is another example of a total nobody whose article is poorly sourced. 2607:FEA8:9620:1108:4813:7E6D:579B:C909 (talk) 13:06, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Hughes was one of a handful of people who recently testified before the US congress on one of today's most most controversial issues. His work has been published in many high profile outlets, including NYT. This hardly qualifies as "a total nobody," and WP:BLPNOTE is more than satisfied here. As an editor, you should adhere to the guidelines and leave your opinions at the door. You're free to cite published criticism of his views (as with any other BLP), just not your own. Global Cerebral Ischemia (talk) 19:12, 20 June 2019 (UTC)Hughes is published in NYT, WSJ, City Journal, Quillette, Spectator and testified before Congress as a subject matter expert. WP:BLPNOTE far beyond satisfied. 184.88.62.249 (talk) 15:56, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

No longer meets Orphan criteria

I noticed that an older link in the double standard article was removed in an apparent bad faith effort to get this article orphaned. I've restored the link. Given that this article does not now meet the very strict criteria for being orphaned, I am removing the relevant tag. Global Cerebral Ischemia (talk) 21:25, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

On Notability

Just a fair warning to all: The subject of this BLP is apparently seen as controversial, having engendered a fair amount of angst from popular commentators and on social media. I believe there is a concerted effort from people who dislike his public views to make bad faith edits to this article. The assumption of good faith doesn't mean ignoring the fact that this article is likely to be targeted and that editors should be aware. That said, it is unambiguously clear that Hughes meets WP:BASIC. A Google search provides the following:

Given that many (but not all) of the above are coverage of a single event, here are relevant secondary sources published before that event:

I could keep going. Global Cerebral Ischemia (talk) 00:35, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

You are dropping a lot of articles that mention the subject within coverage of a congressional hearing, but the fact that a hearing receives coverage is not itself evidence that a person who testified and whose testimony is mentioned in that coverage is, in turn, either notable or that the testimony is a notable event. The coverage was of the hearing, which was not about the subject of the hearing.Secondarily, the fact that a person is mentioned in articles is insufficient to establish notability as an academic or creative professional. Pushing an event-based argument for inclusion seems to be intended to circumvent the requirements of notability, more so given that you only cite one event and it's not actually about the subject of the article.

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ggl 3 26

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[### Conversations with Coleman - Bari Weiss

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[### Conversations with Coleman - Podcast

Apple Podcasts

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1:07:40

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Spotify for Creators

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---

[### Coleman Hughes (@coldxman) / Posts / X

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