“Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates – Through the Lens of Race

Though the law in the United States may very well dictate that everyone is to be considered equal, I believe we all know that in practice, many people simply don't see things that way.

Racial relations have come a tremendously long way in the past century, but nevertheless things continue to be more difficult for minorities from a socioeconomic standpoint.

Unfortunately, it seems that there is a race-based divide between the people, with most of them preferring to cling to their own perspective and dismiss that of others. It's during times like these that a voice of understanding is needed, like that of Ta-Nehisi Coates in his book Between the World and Me.

Before looking into the book itself, I'd like to address some of the negative reviews this book has gotten. Many people feel as if it is aggressive and the author is trying to blame and instruct the reader as to how they ought to live life.

When I read the book, it felt to me like that was a sort of understandable knee-jerk reaction on behalf of those who aren't exactly used to having their ideas about the world challenged and feel as if it's all focused or targeted on them.

On the contrary, I think this book is just an offer of understanding to the rest of us, an attempt to make us experience reality from another perspective. At the very least, there's a whole lot more to be gained from the book when approached in that manner.

In any case, to go on with the book itself, it's written in the form of a narration as Coates writes a letter to his son where he recounts the many experiences that marked his upbringing as a black man in America.

He takes us to rather intimate places inside his mind and gives us all the opportunities we need to get to know him as a person. We get to feel the physical, intellectual and emotional challenges he had to face when growing up, how his standards, values and rules were different from the white majority.

The book focuses for the most part on the destruction of a social group in the United States, and how it has been harming itself for decades upon decades. He delves into the history of the black community, and without making many apologies or accusations details the vicious circle they have been stuck in and how it has continually made life a whole lot more difficult for countless people.

Though at times his writing does feel a bit aggressive, it is more a manifestation of the passion Coates has for the issue and the power with which he makes us understand his world (and that of so many others, of course) and the need to save it.

To conclude, Between the World and Me is perhaps one of the most powerful, moving and thought-provoking explorations of what it means to be black in America.

Anyone looking to gain a better understanding of race issues and broaden their horizons will undoubtedly love this book and remember it for years to come.

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Ta-Nehisi Coates Personal site Ta-Nehisi Coates is an American journalist, educator and writer who is a National Correspondent for The Atlantic where his writings revolve around cultural, political and social issues, particularly in the African-American community. In 2008 he published his first book, a memoir titled The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood.