For this assignment, I read Coates, Tanehisi. Between the World and Me. New York, NY: Penguin Random House LLC, 2015. Between the World and Me is written as a letter to Coates’ teenaged son. The book was dedicated to his teenaged son who is fifteen years of age during the time Coates wrote the book. Coates goal in writing this book was to explain what it is like being black in America. Coates saw a need to go in depth about the black body in America. Coates’ Between the World and Me is written to encourage his son to live life without fear of the stigmas that have been created by the American society, and to push through any external factors that may come his way.
Coates has three main points that lie under the central argument’s umbrella. …show more content…
The New Jim Crow focuses on mass incarceration and how it is the new system for social control of African Americans. The two are similar because they depict white privilege vividly. Coates did a good job at delving into how history repeats its self. He started with the present with his son, seeing people of color impacted by police brutality and the judicial system. He then moved into the past by talking about his classmate Prince Carmen Jones. Prince Carmen Jones was a guy that Coates admired because he was very genuine. Prince Carmen Jones was killed by an undercover PG county policeman who was on a mission for a completely different person. The police officer claimed self-defense and that same policeman, similar to Mike Brown’s killer, walked free and could continue his life (Coates 2015: 76). Both Alexander and Coates talk about the destructive history of America. Coates says that America flourished by stealing black bodies and making them inferior as far as social status goes. Alexander talks about slavery and how it was used to break down African Americans by use of social control. The two describe the idea of white privilege and explain the concept eloquently. Alexander and Coates intersected by referring to what White America has done for African …show more content…
Coates makes connection between his life and the things that were influential to him at the time, which were music, poetry, and books. He references them as he reminisces about his life. One of his first quotes is by Nas. Coates quotes a line from Nas’ song “What Goes Around.” Coates used the line to depict how he felt about school at the time (Coates 2015: 26). Nas’ line spoke to Coates when he left Howard University and it helped him make sense of how he felt at the time. Coates also quotes a piece from Robert Hayden’s poem “Middle Passage,” which states “You cannot stare that hatred down… or chain the fear that stalks the watches” (Coates 2015: 51). The lines from the poem signify Coates appreciation of poetry. He was at a point in his life where he was using poetry as an outlet and leaning to perfect his craft. The quotes in the book are a representation of where Coates was at that moment in time. He documented them as a depiction of who he was, where he wanted to be, and how he felt on the
Coates has three main points that lie under the central argument’s umbrella. …show more content…
The New Jim Crow focuses on mass incarceration and how it is the new system for social control of African Americans. The two are similar because they depict white privilege vividly. Coates did a good job at delving into how history repeats its self. He started with the present with his son, seeing people of color impacted by police brutality and the judicial system. He then moved into the past by talking about his classmate Prince Carmen Jones. Prince Carmen Jones was a guy that Coates admired because he was very genuine. Prince Carmen Jones was killed by an undercover PG county policeman who was on a mission for a completely different person. The police officer claimed self-defense and that same policeman, similar to Mike Brown’s killer, walked free and could continue his life (Coates 2015: 76). Both Alexander and Coates talk about the destructive history of America. Coates says that America flourished by stealing black bodies and making them inferior as far as social status goes. Alexander talks about slavery and how it was used to break down African Americans by use of social control. The two describe the idea of white privilege and explain the concept eloquently. Alexander and Coates intersected by referring to what White America has done for African …show more content…
Coates makes connection between his life and the things that were influential to him at the time, which were music, poetry, and books. He references them as he reminisces about his life. One of his first quotes is by Nas. Coates quotes a line from Nas’ song “What Goes Around.” Coates used the line to depict how he felt about school at the time (Coates 2015: 26). Nas’ line spoke to Coates when he left Howard University and it helped him make sense of how he felt at the time. Coates also quotes a piece from Robert Hayden’s poem “Middle Passage,” which states “You cannot stare that hatred down… or chain the fear that stalks the watches” (Coates 2015: 51). The lines from the poem signify Coates appreciation of poetry. He was at a point in his life where he was using poetry as an outlet and leaning to perfect his craft. The quotes in the book are a representation of where Coates was at that moment in time. He documented them as a depiction of who he was, where he wanted to be, and how he felt on the