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Themes Of Between The World And Me

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The nonfiction book, Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, published in 2015, is about the struggles of a black man living in America. Written as a letter to Coates’ son, Samori, he describes his life growing up in the ghettos of Baltimore, Maryland. He discusses his experiences and struggles as a black man in a country built on slavery and segregation between black and white people. The main focus of this literary work is to inform the reader how people of color face daily challenges just because of the color of their skin. The book’s main themes are race, the destruction of the Black Body, and the American Dream. To begin, Coates, throughout his book, talks about racial discrimination and violence. In the novel, Coates writes, …show more content…

Many people, mainly people of color, suffer from police brutality. Coates asserts, “And you have seen men in uniform drive by and murder Tamir Rice, a twelve-year-old child whom they were oath-bound to protect” (9). This shows that although the victim was a child, the police still killed him. 26-year-old Timothy Loehmann killed Tamir Rice because he carried a replica toy gun. Police brutality is still a significant problem in the United States. Recently, Tyre Nichols was brutally beaten by Memphis police and died of his injuries. Another example of police brutality occurred in 2020 when George Floyd was pinned to the ground by Minneapolis police and killed. This demonstrates that some police officers take advantage of their power and destroy …show more content…

Many are easy to judge and do not get to know one's true character. Coates conveys, “We were black beyond the visible spectrum, beyond civilization. Our history was inferior because we were inferior, which is to say our bodies were inferior” (43-44). In his letter, Coates writes that as a black person, he will never get the respect a white person would. Compared to those in the West, his body is “uncivilized.” In this country, no one valued or accepted people of color. They were seen as outcasts. Coates notes, “Perhaps being named “black” was just someone’s name for being at the bottom, a human turned to object, object turned to pariah” (55). In his letter, Coates wrote to his son that throughout his life, he always encountered a barrier separating him from those around

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This altercation started when Coates became bored and disruptive in the class where it led to law enforcement being present to have more control of the situation (Coates 2008, pg. 141). Although Coates was a very bright intellectual, it is obvious to see that he was not present when in class but was very engaged with the world of books and music, outside of the classroom. Young Coates was not aware of the power of “knowledge” alone. He did not understand that without “conscious” of what is to be fought for. His mind was more focus on the lust for making his mark that he had not considered society’s view of a black male and where the origin of fear

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He talks about how those who believe they are white are essentially doing the “theft” from the bodies of the black. By using example from the American history and some recent disputes between the police and the black, he seems to express hope, but then he realized there’s real hope. The law enforcement and black Americans are seen by Coates as mistrust, sadness, and hopelessness because he knows it’s not all right but he has t

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Coates leaves little space to talk about slavery but instead talks about black reparations. He doesn’t really demonstrate this throughout the essay. He gives us a long list of slavery victims and their stories, but no overall

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The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates is an article issue in June 2014. The article is about discrimination, segregation, and racism toward black Americans. Two and a half centuries ago American success was built on slavery. And in present day African American are being discriminated for the color of their skin that even now the wound that black Americans face in their daily life has never been healed or fully atoned for. In this article Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses the struggle African American went through and all the hard time they face in their daily

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“Coates goes for that audience’s throat. He wants them to feel the strangulation of struggle, to rob them of breath for one heartbeat longer than is comfortable.” (Two texts) Coates' rhetoric is overpowering. He evokes an emotional reaction from his readers by forcing them to look through his eyes and see the injustices against black people as a victim and not a third party observer.

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“But all our phrasing of race relations, racial chasm, racial justice, racial paroling, white privilege, even white supremacy serves to obscure racism as a visceral experience..” When Coates states “racial chasm, racial justice, racial paroling” he is using alliteration to touch on the racial hardships African Americans face in

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In this article, Coates provides great examples of the strengths of his writing. He uses profound language and vocabulary to further explain the claims he makes while providing a detailed picture for the audience. He uses the primary source of the racism that Clyde Ross experienced. Coates focuses on sharing Ross’s story in this article displaying the true horror African Americans endured during this time. Because Coates does a great job of describing the situation Clyde Ross found himself in, it is difficult to argue against his point that reparations should be made.

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Police brutality is such an important topic for Black Americans, especially during present times. The great discussion about police brutality becomes heavily accomodated in America due to the heavy terror being carried out by white police officers against unarmed, Black Americans. “The officer carries with him the power of the American state, and the weight of American legacy, and they necessitate that of the bodies destroyed every year, some wild and disproportionate number of them will be black” (Coates). In distinction to the quote, corrupt police officers take the role of “America”, and the violence brought on to African Americans symbolizes the perpetual mistreatment of us living here in America. I think Coates was strong and symbolic when he discussed police brutality.

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Coates knew he wasn’t in his hometown, so he wasn’t able to act violently. At this point Coates feels he’s being restricted and is experiencing the black vail. Coates also feels like he’s incapable of doing anything about the woman who was vigorously shouting at Samori. Although Samori and Coates experienced numerous encounter that has to deal with racism, they are not the only African Americans that have experienced such things. A female by name of Abigayle Reese has undergone racist remarks against her from white people.

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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.

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Coates points out that since the beginning of time in America, black people have constantly had to fight over the right of our bodies. Black women and men throughout American history have been enslaved, beaten, tortured, captured against their will, lynched, sprayed with fire hoses, and raped. The most tragic part about this is that even now, in 2018, nothing has changed much; we still experience police brutality, senseless shootings, and undercover

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Ta-Nehisi Coates explains racism as being the need to assign bone-deep features to people, particularly those of color, and then humiliate, diminish, and destroy them (Coates 7). Coates expresses here how degrading racism can be to those who are not considered white. Coates also states what racism means to African Americans, which he further discusses later on in his novel. Coates continues in his novel to talk about race. He states that race is the actually the child of racism, not the father (Coates 7).

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The book exposed the material causes of racism at that time and explained the effects that racism has on black identity. He wanted to show his readers the ‘strange meaning of being black’. He believed, at the dawn of the twentieth century, that the laws and the society that had prevented blacks from achieving equality in a post-slavery era would continue to pose a problem for black identity. He argued that, as a result of this, blacks and whites in the United States were separated by a ‘color line’. Du Bois’ book pioneered a related concept.

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As African Americans still suffer in the United States, Rogers strengthens his problem with Coates’s writing, if everybody becomes complacent with racism, change will not happen; the only way is by addressing

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Although he believes that this question is unanswerable, Coates’ purpose is to express his deepest concerns for his son and to help him understand his personal experiences as a black man. He achieves his purpose by incorporating rhetorical skills such as ethos, pathos, and logos. Coates has been a successful journalist and writer for several years. He previously worked for The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and O

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