CoatesAutoethnography To Counter Response The White Supremacism

Coates provides readers with a lesson in American history and explains to his son that race is not reality, but that “Americans believe in the reality of ‘race’ as a defined, indubitable feature of the natural world” (Coates 2015; 7) He brings the reader inside the America in which he lives. He argues that “America’s problem is not its betrayal of ‘government of the people,’ but the means by which ‘the people’ acquired their names,” meaning that America has only ever represented and supported white people, that America was founded on a system of racial bias (6). He draws attention to the struggles that peoples of color, especially black people, have faced. Those struggles generate fear, which is one of the main ideas in the

Ta-Nehisi Coates primarily uses pathos within his text to convey his experiences and knowledge he has gained in his lifetime. In the book ‘Between the World and Me’, Ta-Nehisi Coates emphasized “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within all of it”. Coates explains the difficulties of living in his own body while having to fear against many different people. I agree with Coates’ statement for he provides several examples on cases where it is not so easy to live within a black body. I found Coates’ use of pathos was the most dominant and altered my perspective. Coates’ use of logos and ethos were practically nonexistent as an appeal compared to pathos. In Coates’ letter pathos appeals to the reader strongly through emotions while ethos and logos struggle to persuade the reader.

“And one morning while in the woods I stumbled suddenly/ Stumbled upon it in a grassy clearing guarded by scaly oaks / and elms / And the sooty details of the scene rose, thrusting themselves / between the world and me…” This is the epigraph to Coates’s work. He explains he wants to find out what actually exists between the world and himself. He begins by asserting that America has always had a problem with race, but not quite in the way people assume. He says racism created race, not the other way around. American history is general with examples of people who were once not considered white – the Irish, the Jews, the Russians, Catholics – but now are. Race is not a positive reality of America; it has been constructed, altered, and reinforced. Whiteness is not just skin color or hair color; it is fashioned out of “the pillaging of life, liberty, labor, and land; through the flaying of backs, the chaining of limbs; the strangling of dissidents; the destruction of families; the rape of mothers; the sale of children; and various other acts meant, first and foremost, to deny you and me the right to secure and govern our own bodies” (8). America is not the only country to do this, of course, but what is so problematic is its hypocrisy; it claims to be a champion of

Ta-Nehisi Coates is a journalist, blogger, and memoirist incorporates historical comprehension to exhibit America’s most disputed issues, especially racism. His work has been published in local and national papers, including: Village Voice, Washington City Paper, Washington Post, New York Times Magazine, Time Magazine, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, where he is currently a national correspondent. The Atlantic is a literary, cultural, and political editorial magazine. It targets a national audience as well as

Coates doesn’t like the events because he hated watching videos of black people are being tortured. “ The tears gas that clawed their lungs, the fire hoses that tore off their clothes…..they seem to love the men who raped them, the women who cursed them, love the children who spent on them and the terrorists that bombed them” (Coaste, p 32). He hated watches these kind of film during the Black history events because these film to him seem like black people love being

Coates ultimately poses the demand for reparations as a means for blacks to finally have justice served against the crooked system that existed in America. In his argument, he tries to justify reparations by giving a detailed progressive timeline of the continuous discrimination of African Americans after slavery was abolished. There are several ways that Coates executes his argument on the racial discrimination towards African Americans to make them inferior to white supremacists. He does this by using text from famous literature to pursue an ancient justification of reparations. Another way he does this is by using the life of Clyde Ross to illustrate racial discrimination on a personal level. The final way is by describing the idea of institutional slavery against blacks and the many ways white supremacists, or those in high powered positions would take advantage of blacks.

This theme helps illuminate how black people came to be treated in America both when slavery existed and beyond into today’s society. The theme that black people are disposable bodies within American society. Because of the tradition of treating black people as objects or whose value strictly came from their ability to make profit, the idea of what it means to be black in America is imbedded in the danger of losing one’s body. Although slavery has ended, the racism remains as a violence inflicted on black people’s bodies. Coates is more than happy to emphasize that racism is an instinctive practice.

Coates describes his early forms of education in grades k-12 and the ways in which it shaped his views of the black body. This period of education was a time in which Coates viewed the black body as powerless based on the difficult situation he was living. This early educational experience in Coats’s life was extremely conflicting due to the fact that the

In his essay, "Just Walk on By" Brent Staples explains how throughout his life, it is hard being a black man without having others discriminate against him because he is a tall, black man who works as a journalist in a predominantly white field. In Ta-Nehisi Coates book Between the World and Me Coates is addressing his son about the truth of being black in a society that is inherently races and the constructed stereotypes on them by those in power. Both Coates and Staples agree on the fact that the black body is being systematically oppressed by the powers of this society. Being born black which is something Coates and Staples has no control over, causes them to be perceived as a negative stereotype of black people. This is a world where the black body has been oppressed and damaged throughout history, but yet maintain a fearful presence implied by Staples piece. In Brent staples “Just Walking by”, a black male’s body is capable of altering public space because the stereotypical projection of their race, causing others to do irrational things damaging he black body.

“What I told you is what your grandparents tried to tell me: that this is your country, that this is your world, that this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” (Coates). This powerful quote exemplifies the mistreatment of blacks in America as something that has been prevalent throughout our nation’s history and is still present in our contemporary world. Our national founding document promised that “All men are created equal”. As a nation we have never achieved the goal of equality largely because of the institution of slavery and its continuing repercussions on American society.

In part one of “Between the World and Me,” Coates gives constant examples on how the black community deals with the loss of their bodies and violence on the daily. He makes his argument by being brutally honest. He does not hold back when talking on the subject, making the reader feel somewhat convicted after reading. He uses the element of right timing throughout part one to show how intense racism still is.

America is supposed to be the land of opportunities. A place where you are free to do anything and become whoever you want to be but this does not apply to everyone. One of the reasons for Coates disagreement is the permanent racial injustice in America. People might think that the war between black and white people is over but this is not true. Daily, we can see many cases about racial injustice like when a white man with power treats other black workers as if they were inferior to him. Not only white people treat black people this way but there are many other cases in which you can see black folks discriminate white folks and this can also be seen through public media. Coates thinks that the war between black people and white people will be a permanent one, and because of this, he is also afraid that his son needs to be more prepared for the

Ta- Nehisi creates pathos by also using his personal life to allow the readers to feel his past experiences. Also, the tone of the letters and the fact that is is indeed written for his son informs the audience about his concern for his son and his future. Coates challenges our understanding of America, “white America.” Coates embraces the fact that white supremacy is indeed in full effect and that we, as a black society are not aware or the fact, nor are we coming together to find a solution. As he quotes, “if we don't move soon, we are all going to die,” he speaks too the black society, rich and poor. Those with power and without, with knowledge and ignorance, if the black community does not come together we will continue to fail to the system and continue to lose lives. One example he uses for this is the system of police brutality. For many years police brutality has been in effect, where a white police officer approaches an

Not only being a gangster of the streets can be a reason for having your body taken, but also illegally selling cigarettes and simply walking home with a hood on can both be reasons for someone to come and “take your body”. These ideas are clearly and evidently illustrated by Coates in his use of the names of unarmed African Americans like Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin, who were innocently killed by people claiming to be the protectors. Coates not only references the unneeded deaths of these and other African Americans, but he also refers to the way justice is taken after the incident...it isn’t. It’s like after every death of an unarmed black person the justice system wants to get back at the public and the

Between the World and Me Essay Throughout the novel Between the World and Me, we (the audience) encounter many focus points that Coates concentrates on, but I can say without a doubt that his strongest focal point was made during the beginning of the book. This focal point talked about how black bodies are constantly in danger and that us as African Americans should realize this danger and become more knowledgeable about our current conditions. During the beginning of the novel, Coates talked a lot about the black body and how fragile it is, especially once it’s placed in a racist environment.