1. “Race is the child of racism, not the father,” (Coates 7). What does Coates mean by this? Why does Coats use language like “believing themselves white” or “raised to be white”
What Coates could mean by “Race is the child or racism, not the father,” (Coates 7), was that racism is not only is based on race or skin color, but also societal views. And that a part of society keeps racism alive.
The using of the words “believing themselves white” or “raised to be white” can highlight the construction of privilege according to the history of America. This connects to Coates saying on the previous page, “The question is not whether Lincoln truly meant “government of the people” but what our country has, throughout history, taken the political term “people” to actually mean,” (Coates 6). Back when the Declaration of Independence was being signed, the “freedom of the people” referred to mostly White men, and sometimes White women. The question that the quote asks is if “people” refers to only white people in this instance of Lincoln’s quote like it has in the past, or if it has changed. The privilege having being associated with race in the past.
2. Find two places where Coates focused on the matter of the body. Why do you think the “body” looms so large for Coates?
Coates talks about the matter of the body in the very beginning of the book. The connection to how someone appears, can also be in reference to a body of people. Coates was being asked about what he thought in connection to his body. “She turned to the subject of my body, although she did not mention me specifically,” (Coates 5). I interpreted this as Coates saying that even though the reporter was not talking about him specifically, but was asking about someone she thought resembled or looked like him, and a subject that Coates seemed to feel a connection with. This could be a group of people or an idea.
Another place when Coates talks about the body is when he mentioned feeling held down by school, stating “Fail to comprehend the schools and you give up your body later,” (Coates 25). In this quote, Coates could be referencing a physical body of a person, something that needed to be protected. This is a different use of the word than the beginning of the book, but still shows an example that could be true for many people. This connects people all going through the same thing, bringing a central idea to a body.
3. The “Dream” is important throughout the book. Find a passage in the section where Coates discusses it and why it might be important.
Coates describes part of his idea of the “Dream” when he writes, “People were enslaved. We meant well. We tried our best. “Good intention” is a hall pass through history, a sleeping pill to ensure the Dream,” (Coates 33). Coates talks about how the “Dream” was built on the inhumane treatment and abuse that happened to Black people. To keep the “Dream” people try to mask the injustice that has happened to make themselves feel better, which Coates described as a “sleeping pill”. This makes the foundation of the “Dream” bad.
4. Freebie: talk about something in the book.
I wanted to talk about when this book came out, and its connection to real life events. Since this book is about Coates writing to his son, the book contains all real life events, but I wanted to focus on the year it was published and its connection to what was happening in the US. Coates talks a lot about Baltimore and being raised in Baltimore. Between the World and Me was published in 2015, the same year as the Baltimore Protests. I think this is important because thinking about the protests, Coates book can tell more of his experience in Baltimore before the protests happened. In the book Coates mentions having “seen men in uniform drive by and murder Tamir Rice, a twelve-year-old child whom they were oath-bound to protect,” (Coates 9). I don’t know if Coates talks about the Baltimore Protests in this book, but I thought this was an important connection.
Works Cited:
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. Spiegel & Grau, 2015.
