Coates Discourse On Colonialism And The Plight Of Black People

Césaire and Coates are concerned about the plight of black people. While Coates focuses on his own personal history as a damaged black man and is concerned with how to relate it to his son's current experiences in the wake of Mike Brown's murder, Césaire is calling for attention to the plight the colonization of Africa has left its people in, and what can be done to remedy it. Discourse on Colonialism is not a guide for revolution, but an act of revolt against Western Civilization, and Between the World and Me offers a first—hand view of how the social effects of colonialism and imperialism affect black men today. Césaire focuses on the struggles Africans face under colonialism. He is quick to dismiss the idea of benevolence and altruism as factors in colonialism, and believes that Europe has merely succeeded in spreading their dying system to the rest of the world. According to Césaire, by forcefully spreading the system of capitalism, Europe has killed off any other possibilities that Africa could have had. “…since no one knows at what stage of material development these same countries would have been in if Europe had not intervened.” (Césaire 2000) He also …show more content…
He is not concerned about explaining the nation’s past, but rather on focusing on his own past and how to use it to relate to his son now that his son has become aware of the treatment of the bodies of young black men at the hands of the system. According to Coates, the black man has been marked—he has become an “other” in his own country while others, namely those considered to be “white”, have the opportunity to be the unmarked. Their presence is not seen as a danger, and they are never the threat. Because Coates and others like him are marked as the “other”, they are essentially the outsiders on the fringe of the community. The community was not made for them, and they cannot forget