Analysis Of Ta-Nehisi Coates Between The World And Me

Between the World and Me, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates is a powerful book written as a letter from the author to his teenage son. This book outlines the race issue in America from a first hand perspective. The author explains his struggles and fears as he grew up and how those fears transformed into a new meaning as he reached adulthood. Through his personal story, the reader is offered insight into the lives of other African Americans and how they may experience racial injustice themselves. The beginning of the book highlights the importance of race. Race was invented and assigned to individuals solely on their outward appearance. Most Americans unconsciously accept race as a product of Mother Nature. In reality, it has nothing to do with your genetics. The

Many people forget that African Americans in this country have been enslaved for longer than they have been free. Coates reminds his son to not forget their important history and that they will continuously struggle for freedom over their own bodies. They must learn to live within a black body. These struggles can be seen in the racial profiling and brutality among police officers in cases such as Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and countless of others. He goes on to describe his childhood and how fear was the root of black existence. He writes that “all of them were powerfully, adamantly, dangerously afraid (pg 18)” including himself. Their fear lied in the way that they dressed so differently than those who considered themselves “white.” It was in their loud music, and harsh language. It was in the violence on the streets and in the way a mother would wail on her child. All of this grew due to fear for their own bodies. Learning the streets would be the only way to survive at the time, but the author knew going to school would be the only way to survive in the future. Coates did not want to brutally accept this reality, so instead he transformed his fears into questions.