Review: Between the World and Me

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Race is a social construction. Most of us know this; but Between the World and Me explains how being relegated as "Black" in American society has and does serve a real purpose. Author Ta-Nehisi Coates argues that the so-called American Dream has been built on the bodies (enslavement/ suffering/ death/ impoverishment/ disembodiment) of others. Those others are labeled as "Black" by those who call themselves "White."

Coates' understanding of how this phenomenon works became clearer after the killing of his college friend by police. He does not sensationalize events that are already sensational. His argument is humanistic and seeks to explain things as they are. Because this is an extended letter to his son, Coats makes his point through a discussion of events he experienced during his own childhood, college years, and early fatherhood.

My favorite part of this book is how Coates exposes the emotional and psychological pain of the racialization and subsequent brutalization of black bodies. He ends by telling his son that his struggle must not be waged to save the "Dreamers" but rather to preserve the things he holds dear.

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