Ta-Nehisi Coates’ novel Between the World and Me is powerful in its examination of the black experience in America. Everything Coates says in the novel relates back to the present day struggles that African Americans often encounter in the world. While the purpose of the novel was to educate Coates’ son on the struggles of equality and liberty in America, the most important message in Between the World and Me is that racism is systematic, and race is a resulting concept.
It is easy for one to associate racism with hate, to chalk it up to a consequence of evil, but according to Coates, “there is nothing uniquely evil in these destroyers.” One cannot be evil simply because of the color of their skin. However, the evil that spews from racism …show more content…
Baffled, everyone in the class looked at each other. “Because they hate us” one student said, as the class looked to the teacher for confirmation. “No” the teacher replied, “White people do not hate us, they hate the idea that we have stolen from them.” The teacher’s statement stuck with me, because what could African Americans have stolen from white people when the country was built on the backs of our ancestors? The answer that the teacher shared put it all into perspective; Jobs. During slavery, blacks were used for economic advancement for white people, but “freedom” led to more people of color being employed, which ultimately meant less jobs, opportunities and money for white people. This goes back to the idea that there is “nothing uniquely evil in these destroyers.” America holds an identity of “white democracy”, according to Coates. If anyone takes away from that “white democracy, then they are seen as an enemy and a threat to America, itself. I appreciated Coates’ including this in his novel, because he makes it evident that the black identity itself is seen as a threat to the white identity. As well, his message is prevalent in today’s society, with the strict immigration bans being used against certain ethnicities, and the discussion of building a wall to keep out persons of color to our southern