Means To Be An Other By Ta-Nehisi Coates And Christine Leong

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

In a book-length letter titled “Between the World and Me”, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes to his son about his personal experiences as a black man in America, a country built on the oppression of black people. Coates discusses race and police brutality in the lives of African Americans and how it constantly defeats us while some put in efforts to pursue the “American Dream”. Coates goal is to provide his son with advice based on his life at Howard and as he grows up. He does a great job at explaining to his son what it means to be African American man in this time period.

While growing up in Baltimore, Coates tell us how he never felt like he was out of harm’s way. He also explains the experiences he faced, because he grew up as a lower-class

As African Americans we are faced with more death opportunities than other races. We encounter multiple threats in our everyday lives including police brutality, gang violence, and drugs. Since the beginning of time African Americans have always fell victim to police brutality deaths in high percentages. From Emmet Till to Eric Garner, the trend of police brutality deaths on African Americans never have ceased that is another reason why Coates wrote this letter to inform his son of all the injustices we face as a community. In the letter Coates talks about how he had a gun pulled on him in the sixth grade by another kid.

Similarly, Coates offers an additional factor of systemic racism and its effects on African American communities. He reflects on the generational trauma inflicted by systemic oppression, saying "Black people love their children with a kind of obsession. You are all we have, and you are our end. I think we would like to kill you ourselves before seeing you killed by the streets that America made." Coates 82.

Coates makes the attempt to explain his idea of racism in America and the prejudice he has faced as a young, black male. He formats his book as a letter for his son who will face many of these same struggles in the future. I agree with Coates, to an extent, on the problems minority communities often face (most often the black community). A huge critique, though, is that Coates describes his struggles as “pure racism” and often judges that all “Dreamers” as the proprietors of the problems he sees. This is insulting and takes away from his main argument. “Pure racism” has not existed in this country in decades. No one can be denied access to any public entity, job, park, water

Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses a major race issue throughout America in his book Between the World and Me. The issues of police brutality and white privilege have resulted in extreme discrimination against black citizens. According to Coates, police act unfairly and abuse their power. However, Coates generalizes a police officer’s behavior and blames it on America’s racist ideology. The criminal justice policy today cannot be seen as being imposed by the black people because it was built upon their backs.

While Coates was a student at Howard University, his friend Prince Jones died. He died in a horrible way he got shot by a police officer. The authorities shot him because he was taking off almost running the police officer over with his car. Nothing came out of the case, no justice at all. Coates gives up is because African Americans have been through so much.

In reality, Coates demonstrates that little hope is offered or equality will ever be a reality for black people in America. Coates states “ We are captured, brother, surrounded by majoritarian bandits of America.”

Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book written as a letter to his son, Samori that entails Coates’ hardships of being African-American and the racial injustices he experienced in America. Although Coates explains his experience of racism as an African-American, he does not impose solutions or actions on the racial inequality he describes in the book, but instead asks questions and addresses his concerns. It is unknown why Coates, who is known to be a “solutionist” in his essays in The Atlantic, did not give any solutions in his most popular book to date. The book’s skepticism does not settle well with his audience, nor does its content resemble Coates’ previous articles or works. From these differences, how should we view Coates as an activist and an author? How do we reconcile these differences in his approaches to writing that amount to the differences in his

Otherness essay The human culture is not always right because of something called othering, meaning it can cause differences to other people’s perspective. In British literature othering is also meaning different traits and how it impacts the character. The Anglo Saxons valued fair fighting, the blood price, and the honor code . In Beowulf the other, called Grendel, a fierce, powerful, and dishonorable monster.

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

After I finished the book, I instantly read an article by Malcolm X and another by Coates that discussed black discrimination. Through Coates and Malcolm’s similar viewpoints and more examples from Coates’ article, my mind was opened up to a completely different world I never took time to really understand.

Coates felt that the American society viewed black lives as worthless, no matter what your background was. He saw the officer as a direct representation of America’s beliefs. Coates makes it clear that this was nothing new. The history of the destruction of the black body was rooted not just in slavery, but in the battles of the Civil War, the Jim Crow era, police brutality, racial profiling, and the creation and promotion of the quote on quote “Dream” to him. He presents the idea of being successful as a black person, specifically a black male, in America as having to be twice as good than your white counterparts.

In today’s America, there are still people in America who wholeheartedly believe that Black people are inferior to White. This isn’t news to anyone. America’s history has always been characterized by racial divisions and painted with colored blood. Since America’s founding, “The People” never truly meant all people. But it’s 2017. Slavery has been abolished for more than 150 years. Segregation and Jim Crow were outlawed in the 60’s. However, growing up Black in America today is defined by fear of being attacked for simply existing. There is still an invisible line carved by prejudice and bigotry that divides the races, that limits the ability for Black people to become successful or achieve what Coates refers to as “The Dream”. Together,