Ta-Nahesi Coates’ Article entitled “Letter to My Son” is an essay about living with a black body. In his article he explains many of the hardships and fears that he grew up with. He then goes further on to talk about slavery and his quest to search for black heroes while spending time at Howard University. He then finally ties it all together by talking about his son and fearful experience that he had. I think that Ta-Nahesi Coates essay was very powerful in covering a large number of racist issues that existed in the past and still exist today. Firstly, one issue that Ta-Nahesi Coates discussed was the dream of living in a white body. In his article he described being a kid in Baltimore and dreaming that one day he could walk to school with no fear, have that large Television in his living room, and enjoy the many other privileges of …show more content…
He talked about how in his history books the civil was only briefly examined. He said that he was confused by this because it not only cost 600,000 lives and had a very important outcome. It was the end of slavery. It ended 250 years of lifestyle for African Americans. This lifestyle was one that oppressed what it means to be human. He then goes on to talk about the lifestyle of modern day African Americans. It is a lifestyle of excessive and necessary fear. He talks about how easily a body can be taken from this world because of its skin color. Eric Gamer, Renisha Mcbride, John Crawford, and Trayvon Martin, are just a few examples of a long list of lives that were wrongly taken. When Ta-Nahesi Coates listed these names evoked a sense of sadness in me. It was very effective at helping me better understand how issues of racism today are down played and undermined. By using this example he shows that the need for fear is necessary because if your African American and just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time you can end of in jail, or worse
He talks about how the emancipation is very important to us African Americans, but to other white people it was just a speech because it did not really involve them, so they really just did not care because it was not their history. As Americans, I feel we share the same history because it was just not the blacks that got everything passed for them, but it was also the whites because we all played a separate part with it. When issues like this come up I just look back on the elections of my president Obama. Every one said that us as African Americans we got him into office both times, but if the whole black population would of voted just for Obama he would not have won.... ...
These details help many who may have trouble understanding his hardships, be able to relate. The use of real world examples from his life and history are very convincing and supportive of his theory on blacks lives. Coates talks about how “black blood was spilled in the North colonies, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War [...] and most of all during segregation and the time of JIm Crow Laws. [...] Why is it still being spilt today over the same reasons?” Coates use of history relates to the issues today. It represents how serious the problems were back then, and how serious they still are in the modern society. History is factual, this creates and accurate support to his claim and also allows reader to relate to the past and compare it to today 's society. The rhetorical question causes the audience to think and catches eye. Asking this question emphasizes the issue because it still is a problem that does not have a solution even still today. The author also uses statistics to support the unfair lives of black people. “60 percent of all young black people who drop out of high school will go to jail.” This claim is factual and convincing to his claim about the rigged schooling system in many black communities. The communities are shoved in corner and neglected. This problem results in the thousands of dropouts that later result in jailing. If our schooling systems were
America have a long history of black’s relationship with their fellow white citizens, there’s two authors that dedicated their whole life, fighting for equality for blacks in America. – Audre Lorde and Brent Staples. They both devoted their professional careers outlying their opinions, on how to reduce the hatred towards blacks and other colored. From their contributions they left a huge impression on many academic studies and Americans about the lack of awareness, on race issues that are towards African-American. There’s been countless, of critical evidence that these two prolific writers will always be synonymous to writing great academic papers, after reading and learning about their life experience, from their memoirs.
Social and financial status have been the safety net or “go to” protection for African American people for many years back, leading one to assume education and an affluent life style could become a shield of protection over the black body. However, society has proven that your safety net ends where your skin begins. No matter how rich or established a person is, the fact will remain that they are black. Ta- Nehisi Coates describes his life growing up the ghettos of Baltimore. Throughout his book, Ta-Nehisi Coates repeatedly emphasizes that growing up his, “highest priority was the simple security of my body,” (p.130) Then he goes on to describe how his wife grew up in a more affluent and privileged lifestyle, a lifestyle that
...lack of political representation. He asks the question, “Is it right to impose on members of an entire race a lesser start in life, and then to expect from them a degree of resolution that has never been demanded from your own race?” Well, of course the answer is no. But it also isn’t right to claim that everything in society is there for the sole purpose of holding back the black race, which is what I began to feel I was reading after a few chapters. Overall, I felt the book contained many good points, such as his perception of Affirmative Action. However, I was angry after finishing because of some of his preposterous claims. I.e. his claim that other races have not suffered as severe a level of discrimination as the black race. Other than that, though, he did a commendable job the stances he took on his issues. Hopefully, these issues will eventually be resolved.
Even today, African American authors write about the prejudice that still happens, like Ta-Nehisi Coates. In his essay Acting French, Coates recalls when he studied the French language at Middlebury College. Despite all his efforts to integrate with his fellow students into French culture, yet another barrier reveals itself. “And so a white family born into the lower middle class can expect to live around a critical mass of people who are more affluent or worldly and thus see other things, be exposed to other practices and other cultures. A black family with a middle class salary can expect to live around a critical mass of poor people, and mostly see the same things they (and the poor people around them) are working hard to escape. This too compounds.” Because of the lack of black people available to look up to in scholastics, it makes it hard for black students to find the motivation to pursue interests in English or other
Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author of Between the World and Me, he discussed in a letter to his son addressing the feeling of an African-American living in America. He makes it clear that the African-American body is always vulnerable. Coates communicated with his son about his childhood in the ghettos of Baltimore and how he had managed to live in such harsh environment. A child in a different country also experienced similar occurrences and learned to coped with the street rules. The author includes many examples of African-American bodies under attack and it also relates to what some Asian-Americans experienced. Not everyone would be able to digest this book without bias and prejudice. The interpretation of the book about vulnerability of African-American
The author is clear with the content and has no fear of telling the truth just as Malcolm X expressed himself. Malcolm 's character is strong and full of expression good and bad, Malcolm uses every inch of his time to become the exact person he wishes to be and strives to have the knowledge of whatever may be unknown. Malcolm had a love for his heritage history and what is also expressed is that African Americans are not always seen as the problem. There are many points in the book where it speaks of a white man being the “devil” which is a strong word used for the people who are generally always saying that African Americans are the problem and the ones to blame. The authors purpose is to educate the readers is many different ways and does it through every chapter in various amounts of writing, which describes the beauty and content incredibly
In "A Letter To My Son" by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the writer talks to his fifteen year old son in the form of a letter, explaining the experience of being black in a country that automatically shames anyone who isn 't white. To further prove Coates ' point, I have looked into a very well known pop culture in today 's society: video games; and analyzed the absence of race diversity. My studies have shown that even the most well-known video games on an international scale are displaying heavy biases towards Caucasians being the primary characters in their game, thus adding to the racism that is evident in today 's video games.
In the article, “A Letter My Son,” Ta-Nehisi Coates utilizes both ethical and pathetic appeal to address his audience in a personable manner. The purpose of this article is to enlighten the audience, and in particular his son, on what it looks like, feels like, and means to be encompassed in his black body through a series of personal anecdotes and self-reflection on what it means to be black. In comparison, Coates goes a step further and analyzes how a black body moves and is perceived in a world that is centered on whiteness. This is established in the first half of the text when the author states that,“white America’s progress, or rather the progress of those Americans who believe that they are white, was built on looting and violence,”
For as long as I can remember, racial injustice has been the topic of discussion amongst the American nation. A nation commercializing itself as being free and having equality for all, however, one questions how this is true when every other day on the news we hear about the injustices and discriminations of one race over another. Eula Biss published an essay called “White Debt” which unveils her thoughts on discrimination and what she believes white Americans owe, the debt they owe, to a dark past that essentially provided what is out there today. Ta-Nehisi Coates published “Between the World and Me,” offering his perspective about “the Dream” that Americans want, the fear that he faced being black growing up and that black bodies are what
What he was claiming was that African Americans slaves were born in the United States so they should be entitled to same American values given to the white Americans. He also goes ahead to bash the government for the attitudes towards his people and goes on to explain how he feels they are be exploited. His impact that he intended to have from this speech had been to bring freedom to African American’s by letting proper democratic ideals decide who is entitled to what rights. During the time of the speech he said black American’s should be ashamed to celebrate this holiday due to the misdeeds and unfair enforcement of these laws. His main take away from this was that the slavery going on in America was harmful and illegal because they violated the founding father principle rights. Throughout him speaking he goes on to undercut many powerful institutions in America that are simply letting slavery go on and not doing anything about it (Church). He is a very faithful man and believes looking back at his sentiments will ring home and show that he was inevitably correct in due time. In conclusion this ties to the ideas that African Americans should not have to celebrate this holiday until they feel like they are being equally treated under the same law are the white
In the poem, he mentions black people that were treated unfairly and how many of those people are not recognized as much. He powerfully wrote: “Names lost. Know too many Trayvon Martins / Oscar Grants / and Abner Louimas, know too many / Sean Bells, and Amadou Diallos / Know too well that we are the hard-boiled sons of Emmett Till” (Lines 53-60). This quote shows how many of our black people are discriminated by their skin color are mistreated. Abner Louimas, Sean Bells and Amadou Diallos were men that were victims of police brutality and were shot several times by police officers. Specifically, Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin’s deaths were great examples as to how people were and still are racist. To take a case in point, Emmett Till who was African-American was tortured and killed because he flirted with a white woman. Trayvon Martin was a teenager who was shot and killed just because he went to grab a bag of skittles from his pocket, which the person who shot him thought he was reaching for a weapon. The many examples that Johnson makes help show how racism and stereotypes play a major role in our society because many people are still victims of discrimination. They are automatically stereotyped into a criminal who is about to do something that is illegal. In the society that we live in, blacks do not have any power, they do not get the benefit of the doubt whether or not
Coates is tells his son about achieving The American Dream, the difficulties he seen and experienced due to racism, and unfair/injustice ways. His book shows how racism makes The American Dream difficult to achieve, how the environment we live in affects us and how the roots of black people has an impact on our lives today.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. Which shows how even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed the African Americans from slavery, they still are not free because of segregation. He then transitions to the injustice and suffering that the African Americans face. He makes this argument when he proclaims, “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream”.