Warnings from a Damaged America
Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, is arranged in a wholly different manner than all of the other works we have previously studied in the tradition - in the form of a letter, from father to son. Whilst we have discussed several works that were spoken to specific audiences - such as speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X - this letter takes the everyday experience of an African American living in the United States and makes it more personal. However, Coates also takes the common approach to explaining life as a black American and turns it on its head. Instead of just showing how white Americans treat people with color, he speaks of how his experience as a black man has made him view them and law enforcement differently.
One particularly poignant moment in the letter is when he speaks of his September 11 story. While Americans mourned their sense of safety in a new country faced with the looming threat of terrorism, Coates stood on the balcony with his family and came to the conclusion that this was not his defining tragedy. “But looking down upon the ruins of America, my heart was cold. I had disasters all my own. The officer who killed Prince Jones, like all the other officers who regard us so warily, was the sword of American citizenry” (86). Those who had felt a …show more content…
He did this to open his eyes to the harsh realities of the world, before his eyes were opened for him - like they were for Trayvon Martin. This piece fits in the African American tradition as an updated memoir on the struggles in the day-to-day lives of people of color. The police officers that roam the streets today are not that much different than the one who chased Prince Jones over state lines, and Coates easily ties modern strife with events in the
Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, is arranged in a wholly different manner than all of the other works we have previously studied in the tradition - in the form of a letter, from father to son. Whilst we have discussed several works that were spoken to specific audiences - such as speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X - this letter takes the everyday experience of an African American living in the United States and makes it more personal. However, Coates also takes the common approach to explaining life as a black American and turns it on its head. Instead of just showing how white Americans treat people with color, he speaks of how his experience as a black man has made him view them and law enforcement differently.
One particularly poignant moment in the letter is when he speaks of his September 11 story. While Americans mourned their sense of safety in a new country faced with the looming threat of terrorism, Coates stood on the balcony with his family and came to the conclusion that this was not his defining tragedy. “But looking down upon the ruins of America, my heart was cold. I had disasters all my own. The officer who killed Prince Jones, like all the other officers who regard us so warily, was the sword of American citizenry” (86). Those who had felt a …show more content…
He did this to open his eyes to the harsh realities of the world, before his eyes were opened for him - like they were for Trayvon Martin. This piece fits in the African American tradition as an updated memoir on the struggles in the day-to-day lives of people of color. The police officers that roam the streets today are not that much different than the one who chased Prince Jones over state lines, and Coates easily ties modern strife with events in the