Coates On Race

What is the author’s purpose in writing this book? I believe that the author’s purpose in writing this book is to contemplate how race is effecting people. How race can make some people feel inferior to others or even how race can make you fear for your life. One of the major things that Coates discusses is how when he was younger he would walk out of his house and look left and right for danger. He talks about how people never had faith in him throughout his life. How as a kid his mother taught him how to read and write and how by writing about things that he did wrong really made him think about his actions. He also talked about some of the things that he did do wrong were things that people would relate to race. I think that his other purpose …show more content…
One example is that race is seen as a huge deal in the United States. That just because a person is of color they can be tracked down by cops. One of the things that Coates mentions is that right after his son was born he was pulled over. He did everything that the cop asked him to do, and the cop returned his license and never gave him a reason for being pulled over. This to me is something that I agree with. I have seen it myself in stores or public venues where a person of color is followed closely. Just because a person is of color, it does not mean that they are an awful person. Another thing that agree with is when Coates describes the time that a white lady pushed his son out of the way after coming down an escalator. After this happened another guy stood up for the white lady when Coates started to question her. I think that this is an issue that still happens. So over all I do agree with the author’s assessment of American race relations. I think that race in America is seen not only as a color but also as a long background of events. I believe that this is also what Coates …show more content…
I think if anything the history of civil rights gives Coates even more reason to be skeptical about race relations. I think that most of the history of the civil rights have taken hundreds of years to change. Through that change the movement has made rules that tell people how to treat races. I do not think that there is a specific law or amendment that would give Coates hope.
What are some examples of hope in the history of American race relations? One example of hope is when the Jim Crow laws were dropped. This is when every race was supposed to become equal. That is not exactly what happened when these laws were dropped. Another example is the amendment that gave blacks the right to vote. Even though this was supposed to make it equal, there were other underlining rules that did not allow colors to vote. I think that this was a huge glimmer of hope for people of color, until they realized that the government was going to make it almost impossible for them to actually follow through with voting.
What are some examples that support the author’s pessimistic