Between the World and Me

"Thus America's problem is not it's betrayal of "government of the people" but the means by which "the people" acquired their names"

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me

Racism is a difficult subject in America. It is a scar that will not heal, a conversation that is often held in two different languages: the language of systematic oppression, a communal implicitness of those who benefit whether they know it or even agree with it, and the language of "I" am not a racist, I don't see it so it doesn't exist. These two languages make it difficult discuss, the words sliding past each party. It is something that also gets swept under the rug. Americans, citizens of the greatest country of the world, can do no wrong, and therefor we should feel no shame. It's our "heritage." This bothers me.

In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes a letter to his son explaining how black bodies have been exploited to build America, and what it is like to live with that exploitation, how to make sense of the violence. He explores his own awakening and growth and explains how we can honestly deal with our countries racial history (regardless of race) and to free ourselves from this burden. He is honest, poetic, and the way he explains the things he has experienced and the way he felt is wonderful. 

This book should be required reading. This is important. With Texas passing bills that allow slavery to not be listed as the main reason for the Civil War, and claiming that it was states rights ( a states right to what?) this needs to be read. With the confederate flag being flown over courthouses, and the defense is that its heritage (the south will rise again?) and that people are proud of that heritage, I cannot help but wonder if they truly understand that the heritage is the systematic oppression of people, a denial of their rights to their body. I think it needs to be read because police are not held accountable for the brutality and murders that seem to happen every month on the news. This needs to be read because so many refuse to have to conversation because "I'm not racist."

This book was beautiful, and humbling. It made me think of things in a way I hadn't. And its not written to make us feel ashamed. It reads as a way for us to overcome the wounds of our past to make a better future. We must leave behind the hubris that is America and think that we should find ways to do better instead of thinking we have already achieved excellence. We should have the conversation, and start talking about solutions. Because where we are now as a country is not good enough.