Between The World And Me Summary

Coates provides readers with a lesson in American history and explains to his son that race is not reality, but that “Americans believe in the reality of ‘race’ as a defined, indubitable feature of the natural world” (Coates 2015; 7) He brings the reader inside the America in which he lives. He argues that “America’s problem is not its betrayal of ‘government of the people,’ but the means by which ‘the people’ acquired their names,” meaning that America has only ever represented and supported white people, that America was founded on a system of racial bias (6). He draws attention to the struggles that peoples of color, especially black people, have faced. Those struggles generate fear, which is one of the main ideas in the

In Ta-Nehisi Coates essay “The Paranoid Style of American Policing,” he briefs the readers on the rise in police violence against the black community and the lack of trust people have for the officers causing this crime. He concludes by saying “A state that allows its agents to kill, to beat, to taste, without any real sanction, has ceased to govern and has commenced to simply rule.” Almost all would agree with this statement, for it does has many examples supporting its authenticity.

America is supposed to be the land of opportunities. A place where you are free to do anything and become whoever you want to be but this does not apply to everyone. One of the reasons for Coates disagreement is the permanent racial injustice in America. People might think that the war between black and white people is over but this is not true. Daily, we can see many cases about racial injustice like when a white man with power treats other black workers as if they were inferior to him. Not only white people treat black people this way but there are many other cases in which you can see black folks discriminate white folks and this can also be seen through public media. Coates thinks that the war between black people and white people will be a permanent one, and because of this, he is also afraid that his son needs to be more prepared for the

Not only being a gangster of the streets can be a reason for having your body taken, but also illegally selling cigarettes and simply walking home with a hood on can both be reasons for someone to come and “take your body”. These ideas are clearly and evidently illustrated by Coates in his use of the names of unarmed African Americans like Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin, who were innocently killed by people claiming to be the protectors. Coates not only references the unneeded deaths of these and other African Americans, but he also refers to the way justice is taken after the incident...it isn’t. It’s like after every death of an unarmed black person the justice system wants to get back at the public and the

“And one morning while in the woods I stumbled suddenly/ Stumbled upon it in a grassy clearing guarded by scaly oaks / and elms / And the sooty details of the scene rose, thrusting themselves / between the world and me…” This is the epigraph to Coates’s work. He explains he wants to find out what actually exists between the world and himself. He begins by asserting that America has always had a problem with race, but not quite in the way people assume. He says racism created race, not the other way around. American history is general with examples of people who were once not considered white – the Irish, the Jews, the Russians, Catholics – but now are. Race is not a positive reality of America; it has been constructed, altered, and reinforced. Whiteness is not just skin color or hair color; it is fashioned out of “the pillaging of life, liberty, labor, and land; through the flaying of backs, the chaining of limbs; the strangling of dissidents; the destruction of families; the rape of mothers; the sale of children; and various other acts meant, first and foremost, to deny you and me the right to secure and govern our own bodies” (8). America is not the only country to do this, of course, but what is so problematic is its hypocrisy; it claims to be a champion of

In part one of “Between the World and Me,” Coates gives constant examples on how the black community deals with the loss of their bodies and violence on the daily. He makes his argument by being brutally honest. He does not hold back when talking on the subject, making the reader feel somewhat convicted after reading. He uses the element of right timing throughout part one to show how intense racism still is.

Some privileged people disregard the violence against the oppressed people to develop a sense of safety. They hide behind their entitlement and exemption; ignoring the rest of the people that are suffering around them. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his famous letter, “A Letter From Birmingham Jail” in response to the criticism that was expressed by eight prominent white clergyman. He wrote the letter to battle injustice and oppression against African Americans during the events of the Civil Rights movement. His letter was written decades apart from Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “Letter to my Son,” however, both letter still reflects the ongoing events of today’s society. Coates’ letter, written on 2015, portrays a black American father writing to his son and fears that however hard he protects him from the street, encourages him to work in school, and do the right thing, the color of his skin, will always make him vulnerable. King and Coates’ letter both appeal to the broader public to inform them of the institutional racism in America. King focuses on the immorality of the church in order to justify the cause of the power structure that racism reinforce. Both authors expose the injustices of the legal system to support their indictment of the systemic racism in America.

Sterling Brown’s poem, “Southern Cop” is a multi-dimensional poem. On the surface, the reader will take away that the cop should be forgiven for shooting the “Negro”. Additionally, there is an ironic undertone that asks the reader to think, should we really forgive Ty Kendricks for the needless murder? The poem then empathizes with Ty Kendricks through comments on his need to prove himself a true cop. Sterling Brown’s “Southern Cop” raises to question the implication of police violence through sympathizing with the cop, questioning police brutality through irony, and empathizing with the youth of the cop to ultimately proclaim that police violence is a heinous crime committed against blacks. It is important to note that at no point in the poem is Ty Kendricks identified as white, but his identity is assumed and shaped throughout the poem.

Between the World and Me has been called a book about race, but the author argues that race itself is a flawed, if anything, nothing more than a pretext for racism. Early in the book he writes, “Race, is the child of racism, not the father.” The idea of race has been so important in the history of America and in the self-identification of its people and racial designations have literally marked the difference between life and death in some instances. How does discrediting the idea of race as an immutable, unchangeable fact changes the way we look at our history? Ourselves? In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and the current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the

When it comes to the topic of police reform, many agree that our country is long overdue for it, however, the questions are how exactly do we, as a nation, go about changing one of the most powerful structures to exist in the country. While some believe that reform must come from within the individually flawed police departments, others argue that the entire criminal justice system needs an overhaul. In this Response essay about Ta-Nehisti Coastes’ essay “The Myth of Police Reform,” Coates is saying, that the criminal-justice system is not working as well as it should. They are putting people, especially African Americans in jail or killing them. Some people have a mental or physical disability or a have a drug or alcohol problem that

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.

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.

Coates describes his early forms of education in grades k-12 and the ways in which it shaped his views of the black body. This period of education was a time in which Coates viewed the black body as powerless based on the difficult situation he was living. This early educational experience in Coats’s life was extremely conflicting due to the fact that the

In Coates’ novel, he expresses a major loss in his life, the loss of his best friend Prince, by the hands of the Prince Georges County (Maryland) Police officer while he studied at Howard University in Washington, DC. The loss of Prince has stayed with him personally into his adulthood and has driven him to stand up for human rights. Was the officer that murdered his friend doing his job, or did he extend beyond what he’s paid to do? Ta-Nehisi lives with the pain of the loss of his friend, however, he alike the majority African Americans live in fear of how Prince was murdered. Let’s be clear in what I’m expressing, there is no fear of a man or women who carries a badge, nonetheless, the fear comes from what they may possibly do with that combination.

After a string of widely publicized police shootings of black men, Ta-Nahisi Coates pens this beautiful and tragic letter to his son. He begins by emphasizing the role of American history in the still strained racial relations of today. He declares that “…democracy is a forgiving god…” and considering that our nation is built upon the ideals of democracy—although, not always a true democracy—there is space that allows for the evasion of America’s past offenses. These offenses have always had a foundation in the color of one’s skin. It was not long ago that if you were not blessed with a very slight lack in melanin, you were not a person: inhuman and inferior,