Analysis Of Ta-Nehisi Coates Between The World And Me

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is an epistle he wrote to his son explaining to him the injustice, prejudice, and racism black people face in America. Coates throughout this epistle to his son brings up the topic of fear among the black community and the grave impact of it. Coates explains to his son the fear of losing the black body and the impact it has on the black community.

Parents live in constant fear of losing the bodies of their black children. He demonstrates this on page 15 where he says “My father was so very afraid. I felt it in the sting of his black leather belt, which he applied with more anxiety than anger, my father who beat me as if something might steal me away…” Coates saw how his father

On page 10 Coates explains, “You must always remember that the sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs, the charts, the regressions all land, with great violence, upon the body.” This is saying that everything America and it’s government is built on is made to destroy the black body which causes fear of disembodiment onto the black community. Also, on page 17 Coates states “The nakedness is the correct and intended result of policy, the predictable upshot of people forced for centuries to live under fear.” America creates these neighborhoods where black youth is exposed to violence and this intended policy forces people to become afraid of losing their bodies. America influenced the fear in many black people of losing their bodies.

Coates sees how black teens constantly live in fear of their black bodies. On page 14 it states “The fear lived on in their practiced bop, their slouching denim, their big T-shirts, the calculated angle of their baseball caps, a catalog of behaviors and garments that these boys were in firm possession of everything they desired.” Coates is saying that these teens would put on garments and have these practiced rituals to hide the fear they really had. This shows how