Thesis statement:
Coates’ argument that “the bodies of women are set out for pillage in ways I could never truly know” rings especially true considering the instances of violence upon African American women and their hair that are seen in the earliest of slavery with Harriet Jacobs, through the modern civil rights movement in A Raisin in the Sun and contemporarily in Beyoncé’s “Sorry”.
Introduction
HOOK: From the initial setup of the literature, “Between the World and Me,” scripted by the black activist veteran Ta-Nehisi Coates presents itself as a well-thought-out observation founded on the present reality of matters concerning the handling of bodies of colour.
Firstly, the body is a chronic social issue and a message clearly expressed in Ta-Nehisi’s text. Indeed, in no background it appears additionally authoritative than when Coates defines the penalties of owning a black body, especially in the streets of the U.S.A.
Ta-Nehisi conflicts with organized subjugation and violence exposure on the way to African Americans. Moreover, he is angered when racist notions are brought to action as he brings up his son. Between the World and me can be mentioned as an open mail addressed to his kid. The emotional letter expresses an African American dad living in terror and hindrance. The father fears that the security of his black household is continuously endangered by a universe that ought to be guarding it.
Preface Material
In the second section of his text, Ta-Nehisi plunges deep into his involvement with authorities. Ta-Nehisi writes about brutality by the police at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. In detail, he defines the passing away of his varsity associate. An officer murdered the associate known as Jones said to be in a clear state of mind. Ironically, Ta Nehisi’s associate was killed by the people expected to have been his protectors. The narrative of Jones is a usual tale to the members of the public of the past half-decade. A blameless human being in ownership of dark skin is, with no evidence, blamed for inflaming chaos in the direction of the police. The officer then decides to shoot or even choke at mere provocation – Everything appears practically prescribed. “Between the World and Me” is a memorandum to Ta-Nehisi’s child. A young boy in contemporary society.
Ta-Nehisi mentions the fatalities of officers’ cruelty in current times. For example, he acknowledges Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown. All blacks who have been victims of police brutality in America. Consequently, the practically boundless instances of persons claimed by police violence exemplify the profound difficulties sightseen in the piece of literature.
General Explanation of the issue
Ta-Nehisi articulates that the demise of a blameless African American individual caused by an officer is not about that killer officer but the societal environment of the nation. U.S.A., in silence, permissions the deeds being committed by the officers. The whole scenario equals additional replication. Replications in which Ta-Nehisi defined the snare that young black humans are dragged into. The snare of the street juxtaposed with the school. Ta-Nehisi laments that while the lanes handcuffed his right limb, the learning institutions handcuffed his other limb. He fails to understand why the towns have to judge black-coloured humans in America and punish them for crimes that never. In his text, he clarifies that humans who are unsuccessful in colleges vindicated their ruin in American cities. The nation often claimed ‘they would have been better learning in institutions. Later everyone would give up on the blacks on the streets.
Ta-Nehisi proceeds further to highlight that the purposes of every distinct instructor do not matter, regardless of how noble they appear. So long as the establishment sticks prejudiced. The statement is a gruesome juxtaposition to his earlier thoughts that pardoning a killer police officer for his inhumane actions shows a failing system and a questionable society that promotes racism and violence against black people. Ta-Nehisi claims that the police embody with himself the supremacy of the U.S.A. The police are the representation of American inheritance (Malcolm, 1987).
There is a troubling assembly between the schooling structure and the judiciary organism in the U.S.A. The two structures (school and judiciary) are founded in contradiction of the black Americans. The troubling assembly, according to Ta-Nehisi, shades an image of continuous discernment from the minute a black American kid is introduced into the discriminative roller-caster.
What is whitewashing
Whitewashing is the exercise of Her casting to play a Native American character led to accusations of whitewashing. using only white actors, models, or performers, especially the practice of using a white actor to play a character who is not white
Whitewashing explanation in specific regard to hair
In regards to hair, whitewashing is when black performers are given blonde hair to seem white. Whitewashing creates an impression of a weak black society. A black society that is not proud of its hair and one whose endeavour is to look like white people. In Beyoncé’s song ‘sorry’. The internet exploded with fury after watching the black American’s video. The feeling was that the black artist had been made to appear white. The whitewashing seemed intentional to have Beyoncé’s song sell among the white population.
Presentation in Coates
In the second section of Between the World and Me, Coates explains an example where he is halted by an officer known as Prince George, who is county police. He stops Coates on the sideways of the highway. As Coates anticipates being served by the officer, he feels fear grow in his heart. Ironically, most police here are black Americans. However, police officers seem to have blood for violence and brutality. As Coates holds on in the car, he contemplates several violent occasions that he has read about PG County. What is worrying is that despite the Federal Bureau having inquiries into the county police, most police found guilty, to a large extent, are not given any punishment. Most of them continue working, and the risk and danger of having such rogue police officers on the streets continue. That evening when Coates is stopped, the policeman is deprived of giving a valid reason why he demanded Coates stop. The stop brings more fear to Coates as he sees that as a chance that would cost him his dear life for no crime committed.
Examples from Coates and how they depict violence
This section is a Connection to other texts and historical context. In particular, this section discusses Coates and Jacobs, Coates and Beneatha, and Coates and Beyoncé. Everything is discussed in a synthesis of all–together, as shown. The part also highlights what looking at these texts together is important.
Details and Summary
Coates still has not imagined moving away from Baltimore after graduation because he cannot picture it for himself. He learns, though, that other people, like Kenyatta and Uncle Ben, look further out into the World in search of significance. The Coates family relocates to New York when Samori’s mother accepts a job in the city because she acquires a passion for the city via arts and television. As a freelance writer at the moment, Coates barely makes any money. Coates fails to feel sympathy for either America or even the officers and firefighters who sacrificed their lives on September 11, 2001, as he surveys the carnage. He cannot distinguish between the police officers at Ground Zero and the police officer who killed Prince, so the displays of flags and American patriotism strike him as absurd. Coates perceives them as deadly natural phenomena rather than people capable of stealing his body.
The book’s second section contains Coates’ views and the letter’s harshest passage. An intense rage is born as a result of Prince’s passing. Coates is well aware of the challenges black people face in leaving the streets and ending the cycle of poverty. Although he is unaware of Prince’s complete history, it is evident from the fact that he attended Howard that there was a community behind him and that people believed in him.
He and his family had managed to get off the streets, and he was successful in school. According to all accounts, he was a lovely and loving Christian man who had a fiancée. He was “twice as excellent” as black parents advised their children to be. Samori and Coates can both be killed and forgotten if a man like Prince can still be killed and forgotten. Coates has insight into his own parents’ fear due to Prince’s death. He immediately realizes why his mother gripped his hand so tightly as they crossed the street and how his father had been so terrified that he had beaten his son. They knew their one and only kid and their heritage might be removed at any time. A black person’s death would also be blamed on “race,” not human error, and no one would be held guilty.
Conclusion
According to Coates, America keeps the Dream alive. In order to convince themselves of their innocence or, at the very least, ensure that they appear innocent to others, the author says that those who believe they are white seem to be principally worried about a call to action (King, 1968). Humans find it challenging to accept that something they were taught to believe has significant flaws. Everyone learns about enslaved people in history textbooks, but many people—especially those who adhere to the maxim that America is always number one—deny that racism still exists.
Coates thinks that making yourself appear beautiful and taking pleasure in whom you have come naturally to Americans. However, merely holding that social status should not be determined by race ignores a more significant fact: those who identify as white continue to benefit from their predecessors’ racist behaviour. Racism cannot be fixed until all Americans acknowledge that their country has a sinister past and that they are all entangled in that legacy, much like the trap of an abusive relationship.
Reference
King, M. L. (1968). I have a dream. Negro History Bulletin, 31(5), 16.
Malcolm, X., Baldwin, J., & McCummins, L. (1987). The ballot or the bullet (p. 34). Paul Winley Records.
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