Analysis of the book “Between the World and Me” Essay Example
Between the World and Me is a book that is written in form of a letter that is addressed to Coates’ 15 year old son Samori. The author talks about how being black feels, what it symbolizes and the realities that are associated it in the United States of America.
The author is inspired by the book The Fire Next Time written by James Baldwin. He was also inspired by a meeting that he has with president Barrack Obama in 2013. The main theme of the book is race relations in America.
Facts Backing Up the Argument
Coates sufficiently brings together the facts to back up his argument.
He looks back the American history where black people were violated. During the colonial period, the colonialists made black people work as slaves in their farms and forcefully grabbed their land. The au
...thor talks about harming of the body which was witnessed by whipping of those that worked as slaves. He ignored the faith, dreams and hopes of people. Coates did not believe in justice. He felt that he had now become radicalized.
The author talks about harming of the body which was witnessed by whipping of those that worked as slaves. He also uses Baldwin’s book to back up his argument. Baldwin does not support lifting of the traditional black Christian and believes that no big change is likely to occur in racial justice. James Baldwin thought that whites did not show humanity because they thought they were white and more superior compared to Africans.
The author talks about the dangers that are associated with being a young black male in America. Black male youths in America face risks fo
their mistakes. Coates gives an incident where he raised his voice on a white woman and was threatened by a white man that he would call the police. He gives another incident of a black male schoolmate who was shot by a police officer because he was a suspected drug dealer only to find out that the officer acted criminally because his suspicion was mistaken.
This incident led Coates to rage instead of fear. In his book the author tells his son that he is human, he will make mistakes, drink too much, be misjudged and yell but these inevitable mistakes should not be an excuse to send a young black man to prison.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Book
The book has its strengths. Coates prioritized the security of the African American’s bodies over the black Christian optimism of traditions and later on came to believe in justice. The author talks about harming of the body which was witnessed by whipping of those that worked as slaves.
He is concerned with chaos and physicality. The author is concerned with the well being of people. The author talks about harming of the body which was witnessed by whipping of those that worked as slaves. The author calls for humanity. He thinks that Americans were not human by physically harming black people.
He urges Americans to treat Africans in the right way and not harm their body. The book has several weaknesses. Other authors described the book as an exceptional and that Coates over generalized some of the things he said. They thought that Coates did not acknowledge the progress that has been made in relation to racism over
the centuries.
Coates did not see the efforts of the president in racism and physical harm of the black which was untrue. Coates ignored the traditional and Christianity aspect of the lives of the blacks. He ignored the faith, dreams and hopes of people. Coates did not believe in justice.
He felt that he had now become radicalized. Coates had a second meeting with the president where he fought the president about the policy that addressed racial differences in the health care rollout. The president privately talked to Coates and criticized a blog post that he had written concerning the effort of the president on the call that he had made for more responsibility among African Americans. The president thought that the criticism by Coates was unjust and told him not to despair.
Coates felt challenged and thought that Baldwin did not share the optimism of movement of civil rights that believed justice is inevitable.
Lessons from the book
Like Coates we are supposed to work towards the eradication of racism since we are all equal. In the past, black people have been discriminated in terms of employment, education and other public amenities. These services should be offered equally despite the race that one comes from. From the book we can also learn that justice is inevitable.
The world seeks fairness in terms of race. It is therefore the duty of each and every American to ensure that racial justice is served. There are several organizations that ensure that racial justice is availed in America. An example of these organizations in the United Nations (UN), it ensures that member countries who engage in racial injustice are given proper punishments
or even sanctioned. We can also learn that America strives to achieve racial justice. From the meeting Coates had with the president where the president ensured Coates that he is working on racial justice, we can conclude that America is working on eradicating racism.
From the book, we learn that the current world is concerned with racial equality. Coates and Baldwin are examples of people that share the same sentiments about racism and they represent a group in the society. It is true that racism has been in existence for long. However, it has reduced in the recent years since people are beginning to see that we are one people and one government making African Americans equal to Americans.
Finally, Coates urges his son Samori not to constrict himself to do things to please other people and to participate in the fights that are ongoing for black Americans.
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