Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is a powerful and passionate book. As a white person in America, it was at times difficult for me to read. I found myself whispering I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry over and over. How do we make things different? What can I do? And at other times, reading the words of a black man talking about how white society does whatever it can to control his body and lets him know regularly that his body is not his own, I thought, yes, I understand from my place as a woman in a patriarchal society what it means for the culture and the law to always be trying to control your body. The control comes in different forms, but I too know what it’s like to walk down the street and be afraid. And so Coates’s book had the curious effect of making me feel guilt and sympathy and anger in repeated waves of various intensities.
Between the World and Me is a “letter” Coates wrote to his fifteen-year-old son. It is inspired by James Baldwin’s 1963 book The Fire Next Time, a book about what it means to be black in America. Certainly a great deal has changed since 1963 but so much remains stubbornly the same. I got the impression at times that Coates felt like nothing would ever change, that we will never see an end to racism, while at other times, especially when he was reflecting on his son’s life and experiences and how they have been different from his own, Coates seemed hopeful in a clear-eyed there is still much work and struggling ahead sort of way.
In thinking about the book and how I should read it and understand it, the best approach was to just listen. Don’t try to say, it’s not like that; don’t even think about suggesting things aren’t that bad. Don’t argue or judge or dismiss. Don’t compare my experience of oppression with his in order to determine who is worse off. Don’t go to an insensitive place and think, I have a black friend so I can’t possibly be racist. Don’t get defensive and definitely don’t try and claim I am not part of the system.
It is not always easy to listen, to refrain from Yes, but… I think I managed pretty well. Being open to Coates’s experience was unsettling at times. I caught myself thinking at one point when he was talking about slavery that my ancestors came to America after the Civil War, none of them owned slaves, my family had no part in it and can’t be blamed. But that is beside the point, isn’t it? While my ancestors may have had nothing to do with slavery they certainly reaped the benefits of a country made wealthy by the work of slaves. And they were definitely not immune from participating in casual and thoughtless racism.
It is hard to shut up and listen and not try to exonerate oneself, to think other people are like that but not me. When you grow up and live in a racist society, especially when you grow up and live with the privileges that come from white skin, you are not free from prejudice, I am not free from prejudice. And it hurts, I don’t want to be a “bad” person. And that is good. Because that is the only way we can move as individuals, as a culture, as a country, through prejudice to a society that is as free and equal as it imagines itself to be.
This is an incredible review. What you are saying is so very important. Thank you Stefanie for putting into words so many thoughts that I wish I could express so sincerely.
Ellen
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Ellen, thanks for you kind comment!
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Wonderful review Stefanie…very insightful not only of the book, but also how we try and react to such works…and yes…we don’t want to be bad and I think that is key…as long as we are conscious of our actions and try to attempt to do the right thing, we are headed in the right direction, albeit slowly but forward for sure!
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cirtnecce, thanks! We do all want to be good people, don’t we? We can do that in a number of ways including being dismissive and ignoring one’s part in a racist system, or we can face up to it and try to be better. I the US a great many people choose the first route because it is easier and doesn’t place a burden on their conscience. But it also doesn’t change things either.
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The book sounds like a poignant read, Stefanie.
And, this is a great review. Enlightening. 🙂
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Deepika, thanks! It is a really good book, an important one.
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Nice thoughtful and honest review Stefanie. It sounds like vital reading for our time.
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roughghosts, thanks. I do believe it is vital reading especially given all the murdering of black men the police are so good at and the Black Lives Matter movement. The book shines a light onto it all.
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Very nice review. Some of the best books a person ever reads are the ones that make them _really_ think. Sounds like this is one of those books.
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American racism is bad enough but it might be fair to say that European consciousness of racism lags far behind the USA’s- and that is a real change from the situation of a James Baldwin ( vying with Orwell as the best essayist of the 20th century). After all, what would the US be without its African American heritage? Just vastly less interesting and distinctive.
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Ian, that is interesting to hear about Europe. African Americans have definitely made a huge contribution to American culture and this country would indeed be a poorer place without it in many ways. It is just a shame that white people can love Beyonce until she gets “uppity” at the Super Bowl and sings about Black pride. So many contradictions and exceptions racism creates, so many knots and assumptions to untangle.
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No question though, Beyoncé kicked Coldplay’s ass on Sunday!
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She sure did! She was fierce!
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Thanks Susie! I definitely agree about books that make you think!
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Great review. I was wondering whether it would be ok if I reblog this on my blog? I had a post, but yours says what I’m saying to say so much more clearly. Credit given, of course… Good job.
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ravingreader, thanks! Sure, that would be ok to reblog. Thanks for asking 🙂
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I need to get a copy of this book for my very own. I read it from the library last year and highlighted I swear like fifty percent of it. Coates just never ceases to impress me — and this has been true for years — with the eloquence of his writing, but also the way he manages to be measured in the way he speaks about really terrible things. He’s angry, but he’s not letting it get in the way of making a strong argument. I just really, really respect that.
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Jenny, I know what you mean. My copy was from the library and it was fairly bristling with page points. Coates is elegant and measured, I agree! But you can still feel the emotion beneath the calm sentences. I also really appreciated that he did not write a “soundbite” kind of book that made it easy to pull out quotes and pithy pieces of wisdom. Something like that would have been too easy to dismiss and move on. This book will definitely hang with me for a long time.
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Fantastic review. This book was so hard to read, for the emotional reasons you wrote about. But I do think it’s one every single person in America should read. (Especially all people running for elected office!)
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Laila, thank you! I agree, every person in America should read the book and definitely people running for office. I know a few presidential candidates who could benefit greatly from it!
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Fantastic review, Stefanie. I haven’t had a chance to read this yet but I’m very much looking forward to it. Like lailaarch said, it sounds like this should be required reading for everyone especially some of the presidential candidates who make me want to weep.
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Thanks Iliana! It is a really good book. And yeah, it should be required reading for everyone. The presidential candidates make you want to weep too? I am glad I am not alone in that feeling!
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This sounds brilliant, and I really loved your thought-provoking review. You’ve put it so well – it’s too easy to reach for personal excuses, about gender or family history, but to do that is to miss the point – like you say, everyone just needs to listen and learn.
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Thanks widget! The book is really good and ever so timely for current events. It is so hard to listen and not get defensive but it is something to strive for!
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Perfect review! This is my next non-fiction read, and I’m looking forward to it so much. (If you can say that about a book about racism.) I agree with Ian that systematic racism and the realities of white privilege are much less understood in the UK. There is a real lack of subtlety in the way people talk about racial issues here, as though racism only occurs at the level of individual interactions and only in the present.
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