Ta-Nehisi Coates The Case For Reparation

The notion of Utopia means “no place”, where the perfect view makes people yearn for an ideal and magical land, but simultaneously it can be satire on real life. As a literary tradition, utopia always has the double functions of criticism and construction of a new, better world. Dr. King’s courage enabled him to face the difficulty and dangers inherent in his quest to establish a more equal and peaceful world, which he created a vivid, passionate and beautiful vision for. The nonviolent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win. For Ta-Nehisi Coates, the post-Civil Rights racial utopia society exists only in a dream where white people live, so it is actually no more than an illusion about the US where Utopia is just for certain

Coates asks white people to compensate for the the moral debt and economic damage on black people. The inequality is more like a collective unconscious of white, and the black people can only be aware of and accept their own history in fear. “White flight”, which implies a natural expression of preference, was a “triumph of social engineering, orchestrated by America's public and private sectors”, and it has become a structural segregation (Coates, VII). His observation and Dr. King’s criticism of the “white moderate” go together, both referring to a certain group of people who appear decent but in reality more like hypocrites. The origin of ghetto is decades of racist policies by the government and racist housing practices by business, not just individual

We should not consider King’s Christianity-related inspiration and Coates’ somewhat radical writing as incompatible. It is always possible to seek harmony out of their different teachings, because they are pursuing the same goal. Harmony neither means to follow and echo others' views blindly and fail to distinguish between right and wrong, nor to agree without giving serious thought. Utopian thinking always includes the view of global multiculturalism, and many other cultures have the notion of seeking common ground yet reserving differences as well. This is why we need to be culturally conscious and learn to accommodate divergent views, but not looking for uniformity. People are not supposed to take everything for granted, at the expenses of forgetting their own cultural identities.

Religion is not a chain. For some people, it can be perceived as a philosophy of life. People with different religions, including those who are atheists, have in common in terms of trying to establishing their ways of thinking and moral standards. For atheists, moral code can also come from empathy, whose formation doesn’t require the help of religion. One does good things, because he will expect others do good to him as well, rather than resulting from any kind of fear or