Saturday, February 18, 2017

BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME





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Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Spiegal & Grau, 2015, 152 pp


Summary from Goodreads: In a series of essays, written as a letter to his son, Coates confronts the notion of race in America and how it has shaped American history, many times at the cost of black bodies and lives. Thoughtfully exploring personal and historical events, from his time at Howard University to the Civil War, the author poignantly asks and attempts to answer difficult questions that plague modern society. In this short memoir, the "Atlantic" writer explains that the tragic examples of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and those killed in South Carolina are the results of a systematically constructed and maintained assault to black people--a structure that includes slavery, mass incarceration, and police brutality as part of its foundation. From his passionate and deliberate breakdown of the concept of race itself to the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement, Coates powerfully sums up the terrible history of the subjugation of black people in the United States. 


My Review:
For me, this book defies being reviewed. It is so personal, so true, so well thought out. I don't feel I have the right and I certainly don't have the nerve to write about what this man wrote.

I already knew we are not, in America, living in a post-racial world. Racism is alive and well and being committed as a harmful act gazillions of times every day.

I thought I already knew what it is like to be Black in America, but now I know I can't ever even really know.

I suppose I felt "lucky" or "blessed" that my karma this lifetime is to be middle class and white. Now I know that is the ultimate privilege, even if one is female or lower class or poor. Anyone seen as White in this country is safer, has more opportunity and more freedom than a Black person, no matter how much education or power or money that Black person has.

So I thank Ta-Nehisi Coates for writing this book, for getting it published, for thinking so hard and writing so clearly, for applying his intelligence and his love for his son to what is more than just a problem but is actually an insanity.

I don't know what to do about it except to keep reading and encouraging others to read the books by people of color who tell us White people what it is like for them. Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Jacqueline Woodson, Malcolm X, Walter Mosley, Colson Whitehead, Gloria Naylor, Gwendolyn Brooks, James Mc Bride, Dorothy West, and many more. I encourage you to read all of them. Then do what needs to be done where you live, where you work, where you vote. 


(Between the World and Me is available in various formats by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

15 comments:

  1. This was a tough book to read but, it's so important. Hope it becomes part of school curriculums everywhere.

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    1. I agree. Thanks for stopping by Diane!

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  2. Coates is an excellent writer and thinker. His commentary is always clearly stated and thought-provoking and that is a rare gift.

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    1. Have you read this book? I searched your blog and did not find a review. I think you would find it great!

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  3. Nice post! Yours was so good, I had to go back and reread what my review of this one was. It's a strong cup of coffee! And it seems meant to be read out loud. He likes poetry for sure. So many strong parts in this book but the parts about Prince Jones were some of the strongest to me. I'm glad you read this one. Now I need to turn to Baldwin ...

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    1. Thanks. I will go find your review, possibly from before I started following you. The reading group I read it with also went to see I Am Not Your Negro and are now on a quest to read more Baldwin.

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    2. Just looked up your review. It was in March 2016 and I even commented!

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    3. What did you think of the documentary I Am Not Your Negro? I plan to see it sometime.

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    4. It was beyond excellent!

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  4. Relevant topic for sure.

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  5. I read this one quite recently. I must have dog-eared twenty pages. The author's ability to turn a phrase was amazing. I pulled so many quotes for my review and it was difficult to pick and choose which ones I wanted to use. The material was tough and so personal. The writing was sublime.
    Rebecca @ The Portsmouth Review
    Follow me on Bloglovin'

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    1. Thank you Rebecca for visiting and commenting! As a blogger you know how important those comments are to keeping us going:) I just visited your blog and signed up to follow your posts. Yes, Between the World and Me was quite the read!

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  6. My goodness, you paint the USA like such a racist country!!... In Europe, we have a very different mentality, thanks God.

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    1. I did not paint it that way. That is the way it is. We are working on it!

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