Between The World And Me By Ta Nehisi Coates Essay

Throughout paragraph 34, Coates repeats the phrase, “it had to be,” while he’s discussing what events shaped the black community. This use of repetition sheds light on the abuse of the black body, and why we can’t escape to freedom from the negative image America expresses toward black men. The author repeats the phrase to emphasize the fact that no one could do anything to change what was bound to happen. His message is that in order for the white man to stay in power certain things had to be done, and that no black man could do anything about it, making black men feel weak. Coates also repeats the phrases “black body” and the “soul,” constantly throughout paragraph 33. This sheds light on the fact that slavery affected black men and women both physically and mentally, and the outcomes of slavery have the same effects on the black community today. Coates repeats the phrase to stress that the results of slavery abused black men and women. His repetition emphasizes that slavery not only dreadful for african americans, but it crippled the black race’s chance for success in the

In his paper “The Case for Reparations,” Coates argues that the social, economic, and political injustices against black people in America have compounded since the colonial periods. Moreover, even after slavery and segregation have ended, the conditions leave many black communities on an uneven playing field today. To even out that playing field, Coates argues in his response to these social injustices that, they (which refers to the black people) need reparations from the government, just like how the government has done to the Japanese descendent American citizens.

This theme helps illuminate how black people came to be treated in America both when slavery existed and beyond into today’s society. The theme that black people are disposable bodies within American society. Because of the tradition of treating black people as objects or whose value strictly came from their ability to make profit, the idea of what it means to be black in America is imbedded in the danger of losing one’s body. Although slavery has ended, the racism remains as a violence inflicted on black people’s bodies. Coates is more than happy to emphasize that racism is an instinctive practice.

The recently awarded 2015 National Book Award for Nonfiction author, Ta-Nehisi Coates, has stirred quite some debate over the author himself and the issue on race in America. He is harsh and direct when it comes to commenting on the political policies in America or even the president. Much of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s works are affected by his life living in America as a black person. The violent and “fearsome” life he has lived became the only form of life he is acquainted to. As a result, he strongly believes that white supremacy dominates, a condition which will never cease to be. Hope – being a central element to the black moment – is absent in his projections; this hopelessness in Coates’s works is a center of discussion to the critics. There exist strong supporters of Coates who applauds him for his truthfulness and there are some who view him as a pessimist and a cynic. All the while, Coates defends himself by saying that he is simply a realist who refuses to hide behind the blind naivete like the rest.

Coates ultimately poses the demand for reparations as a means for blacks to finally have justice served against the crooked system that existed in America. In his argument, he tries to justify reparations by giving a detailed progressive timeline of the continuous discrimination of African Americans after slavery was abolished. There are several ways that Coates executes his argument on the racial discrimination towards African Americans to make them inferior to white supremacists. He does this by using text from famous literature to pursue an ancient justification of reparations. Another way he does this is by using the life of Clyde Ross to illustrate racial discrimination on a personal level. The final way is by describing the idea of institutional slavery against blacks and the many ways white supremacists, or those in high powered positions would take advantage of blacks.

In “The case for reparations,” Coates argues that African Americans have been taken advantage of for centuries. During this time the government took their labor, civil rights, and basic human rights too far. He argues that they were also robbed of equal treatment even after desegregation. Coates blames the government and says they are responsible for compensation of generations of Americans being discriminated against. Especially with discrimination still occurring in places such as the school system, judicial system and other market areas after desegregation. Coates talks about a lot in this essay. He talks about a planned black oppression, in which white Americans are the ones who directly benefit. He also addresses that this remains tragically still unresolved. He chooses the argument that nuclear family is a cure for black poverty. Coates was wise to focus on the evils of slavery and more on the ways in with African Americans have been walked over for the last 150 years. He truly chose a very powerful argument, that is going to turn heads no matter which way you choose to look at it. I see the slavery side of Coates argument, but I do not agree with him. I think the government did play a big role in how African Americans were treated, but is not to blame for the whole issue. The government can choose to control private institutions, federal laws and private banks, and yes allowed this issue to go on for far too long. But the government cannot control our everyday

It bears no doubt that Coates builds quite a cumulative, comprehensive and legible claim, as to the reparations due to the minority community that befell a multitude of misery at the hands of white folk. However, the problem that I wish to bring to light, lies not so much with the point(s) brought forth, but rather with the issue of the practicality and feasibility of the implementation of reparations. Moreover, I would also like to dwell with the future repercussions of going forth with such an idea. Even so, I wish to provide for a framework under which such circumstances, though not justifiable, can easily be explained, as far as their occurrence and the remnants of which occur in today’s society (is in concern.)

Coates explains this with stories growing up and learning what African-American people had gone through in the past all

Why? He presents factual evidence from pass situations with African Americans being mistreated, subjugated, and put in situations where they are destined to fail. For example, equality in jobs and housing between blacks, whites, and other races. Coates interviews Clyde Ross, who was the seventh out of thirteen children, who lived in Mississippi and experienced mistreatment in the mid-1900s with being stripped of their livestock, land, and freedom. Coates comments, “It was in these early years that Ross began to understand himself as an American- he did not live under the blind decree of justice, but under the heel of a regime that elevated armed robbery to a governing principle.”

“Between the World and Me” is a 152 paged book written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The book’s sale price is $18.88 at Barnes and Noble. The author of this book was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 30, 1975. Coates began his writing career as a reporter for the Washington City Paper. Throughout 2000 and 2007, he worked for various publications.

In "Between the World and Me", author Ta- Nehisi Coates writes a beautiful 2nd person letter to his son, Samori. In what is essentially a mini- biography, Coates details his life, from growing up in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, to going to college at Howard University. Through beautiful and at times painful storytelling, Coates is able illustrate his life experiences to his son, describing how his life was growing up, and how his life lessons could be passed down to his son, even though they grew up in vastly different time periods. Many themes became present in Coates' novel/ letter, but one was especially powerful for me personally. By being able to educate himself, Coates in able to learn both academic and real world topics.

When Coates speaks of the “Dream,” he is referring to a suburbia characterized by paradise and innocence, separated from the violence and corruption of the cities. America’s success was built upon the plunder of black bodies, and those who live in the “Dream” feel justified of this act; in the eyes of the “Dreamers,” the stealing of black bodies started as something noble, and the rape, pillaging, and murder of African Americans became part of their cause. Social classes became divided “not [by] rich and poor, but white and black” (Coates 104); both poor and rich “white” belonged to the upper class, equaled by their “right”to break the black body. Black inferiority became a tradition of America.

The most significant thing I learned the author’s attempt to …The American is known for its claim of democracy, equality and freedom for its entire citizen. But I think these claims are the foundation of American’s independence and essentially it’s was entire history. But these claims are simply in history book. I think many white or other colors achieved equal democracy freedom. Meanwhile the African-American population in the unite state of America were exempt from these right directly or indirectly. The African- American was heavily oppressed by society. We can see through the reading that the cruelty of slavery and oppression was reached it final stage or peak in in the 19 century which bringing upon abolitionist movement. In fact, it

Chapter four begins with an experience a socioloogist had when spending time with streetcorner men late at night. This experience is used to explain the two levels of sociological analysis: Macrosociological (the approach that functionalists and conflict theorists use) and microsociological. The macrosociological perspective focuses on social structure which refers to the typical patterns of a group and its significance as it guides our behavior. Social structure consists of culture, social class, social statuses, roles, groups, and social institutions. Social institutions are the ways in which a society develops to meet its basic needs. The functionalists see social institutions as means to meet universal group needs, while conflict theorists see it as means for the elite class to maintain their positions of privilege. Social class divides people and each divided person gets ascribed statuses at birth before we add achieved statuses, which are influenced by the groups we are apart of. These are all what work together to maintain the social structure and hold society together. These hold true even as small, intimate communities become larger and impersonal, but that informal means of control represented in intimate communities is replaced by formal interactions, as pointed out by Ferdinand Tonnies. The microsociological perspective focuses on everyday life and the social interaction that takes place in it. This is where symbolic interactionists come in, as they tend to focus

The study helps us understand race in America because is contextualizes it, emphasizing how race must be understood in the context of a history of ideas and practices. Societies are now organized around these prior ideas of race, and our lives are greatly affected by them. The ideas and practices Coates highlights can be traced back to the founding of our nation and the institution of slavery, which help us understand modern inequalities and disparities between the racial groups. More specifically, Coates focuses in on racist housing policies and Jim Crow laws to demonstrate the long-lasting effects of these systems on present day disproportionality between whites and blacks.