Summary Of Coates's 'First Letter'

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ essay, The Case for Reparations, is a rhetorical essay focused on attempting to convince American’s that the descendants of African-Americans are owed something since their ancestors were a key part of the foundation of this nation. His main audience is clearly African Americans, but my question is how well he does convincing other demographics. Can he convince Asians, Caucasians, or Hispanics? What about single mothers in Kentucky? If Ta-nehisi Coates is unable to convince more than just his target audience then it can be argued that he did not do a great job of communicating his ideas to everyone.

Of course as an African American I am aware of the racism that still occurs, and the countless number of citizens from the black community that are murdered. Coates begins to investigate and understand the lives of innocent African Americans that were murdered. Eric Garner, an African American male was choked to death for selling cigarettes. He did not deserve to die, this was a ridiculous crime. Mike Brown, also an unarmed African American, was shot to death and his killer was left unpunished.

“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

Because he is black, he is considered lacking in knowledge, privileges, and rights. Coates further supplements his argument by saying that because they are not equal, they have to fear “not just the violence of this world but the rules designed to protect you from it” (Coates 90). Coates admits that he can not even trust the police, who were meant to protect them from violence. Just because they are of an “other” group of people, they have to face the harsh truths of discrimination and police brutality.

Coates makes in-depth and precise arguments while including basic human morals that inform one of the many ways African Americans were mistreated. Coates also shows many ways of how America tries to cover up their wrongdoings by exploiting them in his article. Coates demands reparation in the most brilliant and flawless way, every chapter was a build up of the previous chapters sharpening the readers understand of the wrongdoings of America. Reparation is demanded because of the hardships of slavery, neighborhood segregation and Jim Crow laws in the

Coates doesn’t like the events because he hated watching videos of black people are being tortured. “ The tears gas that clawed their lungs, the fire hoses that tore off their clothes…..they seem to love the men who raped them, the women who cursed them, love the children who spent on them and the terrorists that bombed them” (Coaste, p 32). He hated watches these kind of film during the Black history events because these film to him seem like black people love being

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.

One of the most prominent components of the text is that the black body is constantly under threat. Coats argues that “the question of how one should live within a black body… is the question of life.” He shows how racism works through the control and exploitation of black bodies and the delicateness of black bodies that results within a racist society. Coats writes that racism is a natural experience. Throughout American history, black men and women were chained, beaten, labored, and killed. Now, they experience police brutality and nonsensical shootings. Arrested for trying to get into their own homes and shot because they look suspicious or their hood is up. Shot because they inhabit a black body. It is the subtle ways in which a black body must conduct itself in public. Violence is consistent in an America that is still divided by race.

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

On pages 117-121, Coates tells his son about his trip to Paris and he tells him what he did, how he ate, and how wasn’t discriminated for being black over there. On the other hand, Baltimore shaped him to live in fear. We see this on pages 91-92 when his son is at a preschool and he immediately goes to play with the other kids, and immediately the first thought that comes into Coates’s mind was to pull his hand back. Now the readers can see that he felt ashamed of doing that. This is one thing that shows the readers the worldview he carries from Baltimore.

Racial injustice and Black oppression is a topic seen in every newspaper and on every news station today. A topic considered taboo in most social situations, is taken on by Tu-Nehisi Coates in “A Letter to My Son”. Coates creates an environment of familiarity, acceptance and relatability for the reader by using powerful words choice and language that invokes emotions. Vulnerability and anger from his experience incorporate a personal view and stake in the heated topic which is enhanced by a letter which eases tension on a heated topic.

As Coates extends and builds up the different variables and attributes, he presents new components. These conducted of analysis and additional memory of his very own history and memories growing up as a black man. He also refers to America history of slavery. In which he tends to feel is made up of socio-social, financial, and political establishment of the treatment of black individuals in America. He compares between

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

There are several ways Coates uses autoethnography to intentionally counter response the white supremacist in America. He uses his experience of what he has seen throughout his life to show the unfair race differences between whites and African Americans. Coates uses autoethnography to try to make the caucasians feel guilty for the history of whites killing and unfairly treating African Americans. Coates is intentionally writing to all whites even if the whites are not racist. Coates is intentionally trying to make the whites feel guilty even if they have nothing to do with blacks or racism. He is also writing this to make everyone aware of a very serious problem within the American society because racism has become a norm.