In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes a letter to his son, recollecting his experiences growing up as a black man in the United States. The stories he tells are vivid descriptions of his exposure to fear, violence, anger, and abuse. As I read the first part of his letter, I could not help but compare his life to my own.
Coates' life was encompassed by fear: fear of the police, fear of violence at school and in his community, and fear of death. Coates writes, "To be Black in the Baltimore of my youth was to be naked before the elements of the world, before all the guns, fists, knives, crack, rape, and disease ... The nakedness was the intended result of policy, the predictable upshot of people forced for centuries to live in fear." The world Coates struggled through during his youth is a drastic contrast from my upbringing. I was born white and was raised in a middle class, almost completely white community. Fear has been an infinitesimal part of my life. In fact, a time in my life when I experienced some of the most paralyzing fear was watching an extremely violent horror film. My experience with the violence, fear, and death Coates describes has been through the lens of film and television. Coates had to live that reality.
It is strange to think that Coates and I have grown up in the same country. He constantly struggled with, as he describes, "the possession of his body." He grew in a world plagued by the cascading effects of slavery, segregation, and systematic racism that hurt his physical body and his tarnished his self-esteem. For the majority of my life, I have felt relaxed and at ease with world around me. I have never had to fear walking the streets alone nor have I had to face the reality that my friends or my relatives could be shot or arrested. Reading the first part of Coates' letter has opened my eyes to the dichotomy that exists in the United States between whites and people of color. It is heartbreaking and troubling to live in a world where a young child has to grow up in their most formative years with gang violence, death, and unrelenting fear.
Already, Between the World and Me has encouraged me to become more empathic towards the struggles of minorities in my country and listen to their stories. I can only hope that this book will continue to provide me with opportunities to learn about the deep problems of systematic racism and inequality and will inspire me to do whatever I can in my community to reverse racism's damaging effects.
Coates' life was encompassed by fear: fear of the police, fear of violence at school and in his community, and fear of death. Coates writes, "To be Black in the Baltimore of my youth was to be naked before the elements of the world, before all the guns, fists, knives, crack, rape, and disease ... The nakedness was the intended result of policy, the predictable upshot of people forced for centuries to live in fear." The world Coates struggled through during his youth is a drastic contrast from my upbringing. I was born white and was raised in a middle class, almost completely white community. Fear has been an infinitesimal part of my life. In fact, a time in my life when I experienced some of the most paralyzing fear was watching an extremely violent horror film. My experience with the violence, fear, and death Coates describes has been through the lens of film and television. Coates had to live that reality.
It is strange to think that Coates and I have grown up in the same country. He constantly struggled with, as he describes, "the possession of his body." He grew in a world plagued by the cascading effects of slavery, segregation, and systematic racism that hurt his physical body and his tarnished his self-esteem. For the majority of my life, I have felt relaxed and at ease with world around me. I have never had to fear walking the streets alone nor have I had to face the reality that my friends or my relatives could be shot or arrested. Reading the first part of Coates' letter has opened my eyes to the dichotomy that exists in the United States between whites and people of color. It is heartbreaking and troubling to live in a world where a young child has to grow up in their most formative years with gang violence, death, and unrelenting fear.
Already, Between the World and Me has encouraged me to become more empathic towards the struggles of minorities in my country and listen to their stories. I can only hope that this book will continue to provide me with opportunities to learn about the deep problems of systematic racism and inequality and will inspire me to do whatever I can in my community to reverse racism's damaging effects.
I liked what you said about not experiencing much fear in your life. I grew up a lot like you, living in a pretty middle class, white community, so fear is also something I did not have to experience much while I was growing up. I also liked what you said about how different it is to grow up in the United States as a white person vs as a minority. I think it is hard for us to realize how much more difficult everything is when you are a minority.
ReplyDeleteI liked the point you made about how it is heartbreaking to think that we live in a world where some kids have to live their formative years consumed in gang violence, death, and unrelenting fear. I think that this is one of the biggest problems that sometimes gets overlooked. When I was younger I lived in a neighborhood full of gangs and violence, and it is not something that I would a want to wish on anyone, and this is something that I only dealt with for a couple of years, I can not imagine having your everyday life consumed in those gangs and violence. It just adds one more aspect of systematic racism that we need to learn more about.
ReplyDeleteWell written--I'm so glad you can sense that your empathy is growing and developing and appreciate your insight on how interesting it is that we are sharing space in the same country. Certainly his perspective is important and valid. Thanks for writing
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