Between The World And Me Summary

Between the World and Me has been called a book about race, but the author argues that race itself is a flawed, if anything, nothing more than a pretext for racism. Early in the book he writes, “Race, is the child of racism, not the father.” The idea of race has been so important in the history of America and in the self-identification of its people and racial designations have literally marked the difference between life and death in some instances. How does discrediting the idea of race as an immutable, unchangeable fact changes the way we look at our history? Ourselves? In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and the current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the

In Between The World And Me the author writes a letter to his fifteen year old son (Samori) about how to live in a black body in America. Coates tells his son about how he was growing up in the ghettos of Baltimore and learning the codes of the streets in order to survive. His father was hard on him, but now he sees that black parents often are so they don’t lose their children to violence’s in the streets. In the city of Baltimore the way to grow up black was usually to grow up poor and reckless to assert one humanity. The swagger and loudness of the men outside on the streets corners of Baltimore were the way they protect themselves and to announce the fact of them being present as human beings.

This disproportionate use-of-force is of major concern because it leads to an increased negative perception of law enforcement across the black community as a whole. The use of deadly force towards the black community need to be made a top priority amongst police departments if they want to improve their relationship with the black communities they serve. Police do have to make split second decisions that could mean life or death but they need there psychological background should be better understood before having an officer patrol an entirely black community. There appears to be an increase in the use of deadly force by the police towards blacks in recent years there have been a number of incidents involving unarmed black men being killed at the hands of police (Milner, George and Alison, 2016). Michael brown, Freddie Gray, Dante Parker, Eric Garner and Walter Scott grabbed media attention in 2014 and 2015 as Unarmed men killed by police officers using deadly force( Milner, George and Alison, 2016).

I will be writing a report on “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The genre of this book is an autobiography and a biography. Between the World and Me is about how things changed for African Americans from the author’s time to his son’s time. This book gives a lot of examples of how hard it is to live in a black body. Ta-Neshisi Coates was born September 30, 1975 in Baltimore Maryland.

The following piece of work will discuss racism within the criminal justice system by viewing the Black Lives Matter movement, the roles of law enforcement and how that effects citizens, and potential solutions to the problems in the system. Within our criminal justice system, it is evident that there is a problem by the ratio of blacks in prison, and the number of police brutality cases in the country.

The police are pronouncing a campaign of domination and restraint of populations and that movement has the understood endorsement of every citizen within their precincts. This is not a reprobate officer difficulty; this is a cad society crisis (Russell, 2000). Police brutality is the manifestation of a race issue that has been growing over an extensive period of time. Police brutality cannot be fought without addressing the core issue of racism and proper measures of reform through the auspices of the law. It is important that we as a nation set aside time to really discuss the issues that surround institutional racism and institutional bias that creates the stigma that surrounds the African-American population. The police are simply mediums

In our nation’s history, African Americans have been treated unequally by whites. Since then, the treatment whites give to minorities has degraded. Now, white police officers have abused their power towards minorities. This is an issue that continues but we as a society can no longer ignore the fact that this is unconstitutional. African American communities have turned into the targets of racism. This paper will examine the repeated history of police brutality in America in order to explain the racism and injustice involved. America needs a policy to enforce the unjust treatment police give to African Americans.

To conclude, racial profiling against Black people by police officers is a serious issue throughout the nation. However, as proven by this essay, there are several solutions to mitigate the issue. By deposing police officers with racist stereotypes embedded into their minds, replacing poor police protocol targeting minorities, providing police officers with greater accountability, and implementing body cameras on all police officers, racial profiling against Black people could be greatly reduced, better yet, completely eliminated. Singling people out due to the color of their skin is illegal, immoral, and unconstitutional. Police departments must do their part in providing Black people the equality which they rightfully deserve. Recalling the

Police brutality is what occurs once policemen are left behind without a sure route. According to the New York Times, “An analysis of F.B.I. data from 2010 to 2012 concluded that the police killed black men ages 15 to 19 at a rate 21 times greater than the statistic for white men the same age.” Reading this statistic, individuals would wonder why there is such a difference in between the two races. And the answer is because of the assumptions that police officers have had using deadly force have led them to take unnecessary actions. Now because of such actions that those policemen have done, African Americans and other minority racial groups think lesser of the higher authority.

As you look around and see that it’s not only white police officers during police brutality there’s also black officers. Black officers are now going against their own race because they are starting to symbolize white power, which means that the white officers have trained them to look at black people differently; however, they are starting to pick up white racism and white repression because they are surrounded by it which it causes them to act this way towards the people. Even though, police officers were trained to tolerate disrespect from citizens, however, some respond with an excessive force. So we ask ourselves, “If police officers are supposed to ignore the disrespect and ignorance, then why do they continue to go against our human right? Is it because of our race or background?”. There’s questions that a lot of people wonder, but they know it wouldn’t get answered or it wouldn’t be the answer they are looking for. As years go by police brutality started to become worse. It all started when Rosa Parks wouldn’t give her seat up to a white person. All the colored people were

An individual who has no knowledge of racism in America may think that once African Americans were given the same privileges as whites, racism would be extinct. This, however, is incorrect because racism is not only alive but thriving. The oppression of the African American community is still relevant today and happening everywhere. Where slavery and Jim Crow laws were banned, the war on drugs and mass incarceration of African Americans were created. It is evident “in the inner cities that the vast majority of young black men are either under the control of the criminal justice system or branded criminals for life” (Graff 126). The problem of mass incarceration ties into one of today’s other most pressing ethical issues concerning the African American community - police brutality. Mike Brown, Freddie Gray, and Tamir Rice are just a few of the many names that come to mind when one thinks of police brutality and the African Americans. The ethical issue of police brutality is very muddled because each case must be treated singularly, thus to not automatically blame the incident on racism. Although the “police are meant to protect and serve all United States citizens, for too many minority communities, police have become a source of fear, quick to resort to physical violence” (Onyemaobim 162). It may be, however, that with an increasing number of these incidents in recent years,

In recent years’ police departments have been brought into the public eye based on the public belief that police brutality has become a norm within the police system in recent years. Yet this has occurred for decades in police departments, not only that but there are multiple forms of brutality to take account of in the criminal justice system specifically towards African-Americans. The criminal justice system has become accustomed to creating a system of racial control after the ending of the Jim Crow Era. Causing every level of the system to work in a way that limits the freedom of African-Americans the most common being that of police misusing

As a social worker we have to advocate for the importance of addressing the policies that uphold systemic racism such as the overbearing law enforcement policies, is the piece that calls for recalibrating the balance of power in black communities that are heavily policed by mostly white law enforcement officers. I believe these communities face harsh treatments because they fall under white politicians who justify that police behavior turn deadly or confrontational with African Americans because criminal activity is a major problem in many black communities. Unfortunately this means that many black citizens will have some kind of contact with police officers, either as victims of crime or as criminals, because of what police officers are trained to do when they believe their lives are being

Current socio-political controversy in America has hit an all-time high. Our country is divided regarding topics such as immigration, minimum wage, healthcare, and foreign affairs. These problems desperately need a solution, however, because of the variety of opinions as to how we should solve these, solutions that satisfy everyone have been nearly impossible to come by. One of the most prominent issues in our country that has been increasingly problematic is racial profiling. Racial profiling is seen throughout America at places like airports and on the highways. Multiple ethnic groups have been affected by this ‘strategy,’ such as Muslims and Latinos. One of the most subjected groups to racial profiling and arguably one of the most outspoken have been African Americans. The divide between African Americans and police officers has been continuously rising in the last decade, as many have spoken out regarding the unfair treatment of blacks by law enforcement. In the last decade alone, there have been far too many instances in which a black citizen’s life has been claimed by the hands of a police officer, such as in the case of the killings of Philando Castile and Michael Brown. The public response to these killings have been outrage and angst against police officers. Believing race was a factor, the public began to voice their opinions and protest the seemingly unfair treatment towards black individuals by police officers. This has only increased the tension between the two groups, as there are often racial profiling accusations toward police officers who pull over black drivers. The best way to approach a solution is to first look at the history of the problem and its contribution to the current situation. I believe the unfair treatment and racial violence towards blacks that occurred in American history has contributed to the rising tension between blacks and police officers, resulting in the current racial divide and constant confrontations between the two groups. The best example of this can be seen in the issue of racial profiling, in which the two groups’ perception of one another has been hostile and unwelcoming.

Police brutality among minorities is an ongoing problem that has existed in the United States for generations. As our society grows, the effects of police brutality become a bigger concern. The men and women we should be looking up to for protection shouldn’t be the ones people are most fearful of. Some officers take their power to a new extreme, even when the situation doesn’t call for it. Sometimes they abuse their given powers to physically and mentally harm individuals, causing massive protests and riots among the nation. The American Dream was meant for freedom and for everyone to be treated equally, not for people to be abused and persecuted against for having a different color skin. The racial profiling of minority groups has led civilians to distrust police officers, therefore, living in constant fear.