Part II of Between the World and Me

In Part II of Ta-Nehisi Coates book, Between the World and Me, Coates continuously thinks back to the memory where Prince Jones is killed by police. Anger streams through his body, Prince Jones did not deserve this to happen. The other emotion is fear, because yes, he did not deserve this and it is a sign that no one is safe. If this could happen to Prince Jones, then why couldn’t it happen to him? Prince Jones was more privileged, intelligent, stronger than he was in Coates’ eyes. Fear drives much of Coates’ thoughts in this section. He thinks about Samori’s future and his own, in a country built on the hatred of his people. He writes “I knew that Prince was not killed by a single officer so much as he was murdered by his country and all the fears that have marked it from birth”(Coates 76).
I decided to do a bit of research to see what I could find on civil rights between minorities and the police departments. I found this article which I have linked below that provides a fascinating read.
https://www.newsweek.com/police-body-camera-incident-report-memory-civil-rights-minority-711584 Do body cameras help in stopping this destruction? What are some of your thoughts? I think a great quote to pull in here with this article is when Coates states “Black people love their children with a kind of obsession. You are all we have, and you come to us endangered. I think we would like to kill you ourselves before seeing you killed by the streets that America made.”(Coates 82).
Last class, we discussed Coates’ argument on the body and the way that African-Americans are begging for an opportunity to control their body, their innermost being of themselves. Coates writes “these officers had my body, could do with that body whatever they pleased, and should I live to explain what they had done with it, this complaint would mean nothing.”(Coates 76). Here, we see the struggle over body and Coates points out the deterioration of the black body. He comments that he doesn’t believe in forgiveness for the destruction of Prince Jones’ body. This also drives home Coates’ atheist thoughts, as he does not foresee some kind of repentance being brought to African-Americans for all that they suffer through on a daily basis anytime soon.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Freedom Riders 3/26

As I watched the “Freedom Riders” documentary, the more disgusted I become at that racial injustices in American history. At the beginning of the documentary, there is a small montage of bigots giving poor excuses as to why the South should remain segregated. However, there was one quote that stuck out that stated, “You can not change a way of life overnight. The more they try to force us into doing something, the worse the reaction is going to be.” Racism should not be a way of life anyone wants to live through or put onto someone else. The Freedom Riders and many nonviolent protesters weren’t physically imposing on others, so why was the reaction of segregationists to worsening as “they try to force” them into a realistic way of life? Watching the documentary and listening to how the Riders were willing to be martyrs for the Movement as they were physically attacked, their property was destroyed via molotov and mentally drained daily makes me appreciate activism a great deal more, ...
Read more
After reading the rest of Kwame Ture and Charles V. Hamilton's Black Power and then reflecting about what we talked about in class on Tuesday, I still cannot put my finger on an exact definition of "black power." I do believe, though, that "black power" cannot be achieved without a change in the political structure of America. When reading the fourth chapter of this book, the idea that people in power control the law is brought up. I, almost, one hundred percent agree with this. The quote from the book that stood out to me was "Law is the agent of those in political power; it is the product of those powerful enough to define right and wrong and to have that definition legitimized by "law." This is not to say that "might makes right," but it is to say that Might makes Law." This quote shows how political leaders shape the law. Those in power get to make the laws, whether they are just or not. I still believe this today. I believe...
Read more

What It's Like to Be Black on Campus Now

In Melissa Harris-Perry’s article, “What It’s Like to Be Black on Campus Now”, she discusses the issues behind race in education and institutions through ten black student journalists who tell their personal experiences. She gives an example from the University of Missouri, explaining how one student decided to stop eating in protest of inaction and ineffective administrative responses to racial incidents on campus. 30 Missouri football players joined this one student in protest and University of Missouri’s president resigned soon after. This example is powerful because it shows other institutions that when you unite together, change can come. Harris- Perry continues to talk about how important education is to black families and how hard it is to send their children to a place that can be so full of hatred towards their race. She wrote, “Viewing higher education as a pathway to equity, African American families and communities have made enormous sacrifices to send black kids to college...
Read more