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I really don’t know what to say about Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book. I don’t feel qualified to talk about it. It’s addressed to his son. It’s not addressed to me and it talks about all sorts of things I can’t relate to, which is almost enough to scare me away from writing a review of this book.
On the other hand, Coates did publish this book to be read by the general public and I am far from the first white person to read/listen to it, so here goes.
It’s every bit as perfect as everyone says it is. Coates’s narrative focuses a lot on the fragility of the black body. He doesn’t mean they’re physically less fragile than white bodies, just that they are more targeted and less protected by society than white bodies. He talks about the fear of living as a black person in America and how that fear grows exponentially when one becomes the parent of black children in America.
Coates points out a few examples of fine, upstanding young black men who were literally shot down in their prime. I get why some people want to blame black people for the violence against them. In addition to the rampant racism in this country, it’s human nature to blame the victim. If we can make ourselves believe the victim did something to deserve what they got, then we can believe we’re safe. The fact is that many of us are safe, not because of anything we do or don’t do, but simply because we’re white. That’s good news for those of us who “believe we’re white” (as Coates would say), but that doesn’t make racism or the police brutality and murder that results from it acceptable.
Society likes to tell black people that if they just act a certain way, follow the rules, etc., that there’s no reason they can’t be every bit as successful as their white counterparts. Of course that doesn’t address the fact that millions of African Americans grow up homeless, without a supportive family, without a family at all, with poor schools and overworked teachers who have run out of s***ts to give.
Despite these obstacles, some do manage to make it out of the streets and become productive members of society. They work hard, raise their kids just like their white neighbors raise their kids: two parents, lots of love and support, send them to good schools and then to college … only to watch their well-behaved children get gunned down by the very people who are supposed to protect them.
Coates is one of the few who made it out of the streets, but they still haunt him. Making new friends is not easy for him because trust does not come easily. Expressing his love for his own son doesn’t come easily. His wife has helped him make strides in the right direction, but it’s something he still constantly struggles with.
What did you guys read/listen to this week? Anything particularly powerful? I want to hear all about it!