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Alexis Cooper
Professor Noone
ENGW 103
3/7/18
“Between the World and Me” – Ta-Nehisi Coates: The Black Body in America
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book, Between the World and Me, has a strong theme throughout the
writing that highlights the struggle of being black in his world. Coates emphasizes his anger at
the existence of a black man in America, discussing the vulnerabilities and stresses he has
personally experienced. In this letter to his son, he explains how black bodies have historically
been enslaved, profiled, and oppressed. Slavery, racism, and discrimination have been displayed
throughout American history with events like the Slave Trade, Jim Crow Laws, Brown v. Board
of Education, the Civil Rights Era, etc., and today black people are still dealing with unjust
circumstances.
One of the most prominent components of the text is that the black body is constantly
under threat. From being enslaved to now being under continuous surveillance and threat, black
people are subject to struggling to survive in America. This is due to the extensive amount of
racism that has been occurring throughout history. Racism is mainly enforced through the
damage and oppression of the black body. Coates makes it a point to say that racism is the cause
of race, a construct that has been created for white people to maintain superiority. Coates says:
“Racism—the need to ascribe bone-deep features to people and then humiliate, reduce, and
destroy them—inevitably follows from this inalterable condition…But race is the child of
racism, not the father." (p. 7) At this moment, Coates is referring to how white people have the
desire to make themselves look and seem superior to those who are not like them. If one is not
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white, he is to be treated differently and stripped of his dignity. Coates continues to tell his son,
Samori, of the ways people have been slaughtered and reminds him that he is not safe in his
country, nor will he ever be. When Coates says: “And you know now, if you did not before, that
the police departments of your country have been endowed with the authority to destroy your
body. It does not matter if the destruction is the result of an unfortunate overreaction. It does not
matter if it originates in a misunderstanding. It does not matter if the destruction springs from a
foolish policy,” (p. 9) he is telling his son that nothing will matter in any given circumstance. The
police have the authority to destroy his body without probable cause. This is the struggle of being
black in America. Parents of minorities, especially parents of black males, are forced to give their
children the talk of surviving an encounter with a police officer. People are tired of all of the
Coates offers a view of hatred towards the black body, of how the American culture
thrives off of destroying the black body. He says: "In America, it is traditional to destroy the
black body – it is heritage." (p. 103) With saying this, he expresses that it is the routine and
casualty of America to treat black individuals unfairly on all spectrums. White people profit off
of black people and still do today. For example, with police brutality, officers can shoot and/or
kill an unarmed black individual and is placed on administrative leave. It has become so
common, that no one realizes that the dehumanization of black bodies is a business for America.
There is protest after protest for there to be change, but it has left many wondering if they’ll be
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continues this idea of destruction by saying: “There is no them without you, and without the right
to break you they must necessarily fall from the mountain, lose their divinity, and tumble out of
the Dream” (p. 105) With the fact that America was founded genocide and enslavement of people
who were not white, this statement is saying that without those very two acts America would be
nothing and that the white man thrives on the destruction black people.
There are various themes in Coates’ book, but it seems that every theme can all come
back and connect to the black body. Coates shows how racism is driven by the regulation,
manipulation, and exploitation of black bodies. This theme explains how black people have been
treated – and still are treated – within American society. In the book, readers are shown that what
it means to be black in America is to struggle and to have the constant fear of the destruction of
one’s body. Coates’ assessment of black existence in America is shadowed by slavery and of the
present reality of mass incarceration and police brutality. No matter how much success or class
privilege black people gain, no black person in America is ever safe from the constant threat of
violence.
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Works Cited
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. First edition. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015.
Ludwig, Mike. “Several African-American men share with Truthout their stories of abuse at the
hands of police, and after 12 days of continuous demonstrations against the shooting of
an unarmed teen, Michael Brown, it appears that the community is in it for the long
haul.” Why the People of Ferguson Can’t Trust the Cops, Truthout Report, 21 August
Olson, Scott. Getty Images. “Demetrus Washington joins other demonstrators protesting the
shooting death of teenager Michael Brown on Aug. 14, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo. Brown
was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer on Aug. 9, 2014.” Ferguson March.
goes-on-f-1790856337 (Image 2)