Racism Exposed In Coates's Between The World And Me

The renown pianist and conductor, Timothy Long, once claimed, “Fear and ignorance are the key routes to racism.” Essentially, Long suggested that it is the nefarious forces of fear and ignorance that reinforce the systems of racial oppression in society. In the contemporary book, Between The World And Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates aims to expose the racial injustice and cultural degrading of the “black body” to his fifteen year old son. In this book, Coates corroborates Long’s claim as he illustrates that the fear within blacks, and the ignorance of the injustice they face, leads to violence within oppressed black communities and increase of racism in America. Coates employs structure and violent imagery to illustrate that racism has forced blacks

to become accustomed to fear that causes self-hatred and violence due to the American of oppression of the “black body”. Coates suggests that the violence and fear is generational as it is instilled in black children through the oppressed black parents and the oppressed black community that surrounds them.

Primarily, Coates employs anaphora and violent imagery to emphasize that racism has gradually taught black children and youth the concept of racial fear, thus resulting in the development of their violent or aggressive perspectives towards society.

Coates conveys that “[he] saw it in their loud laughter…[he]saw it in their brutal language…”(15). Here, “it” refers to the insecurities or inferiority the black children feel, which provokes them to act aggressive with “loud laughter” and “brutal laughter”. By employing this anaphora, Coates emphasizes the growing fear that black teenagers face that antagonizes them to react violently. Furthermore, Coates demonstrates that “[he] knew that there was a ritual to a street fight...attested to all the vulnerability of the black teenage body” (15). The fact that the “street fight” is “ritual” or mundane highlights that violence is a tradition that black teenagers are adopting. Thus, Coates employs violent imagery to prove that the result of this prevailing fear that builds up in black communities due to racism. Additionally, Coates articulates that “[he] would watch them after school” as “squared off like boxers” and “leaped at each other” (15). Here, Coates illustrates that the black teenagers showcase the violence in the black community “after school” as they “squared off like boxers” as to resolve conflicts. Through this violent imagery, Coates portrays how the racial injustice in black communities influences the black teeneagers

to copy the violence and react towards each other as to gain superiority that they have lost due to the constant fear of racism. Ultimately, Coates uses violent imagery and anaphora to demonstrates that black teenagers also face the effects of racism because they adopt the fear and the violence, that gives them power, from their black parents or the oppressed society. Therefore, Coates suggests that the systematic oppression of blacks commences right from childhood which results in a generational cycle of oppression and suffering that is a composite of fear and violence within black communities.

Furthermore, Coates employs an anecdote and violent imagery to highlight that black parents also react violently towards children as to protect them from the racial injustice in society.

Coates demonstrates that “[his]my father was so very afraid. I felt it in the sting of his black leather belt… he beat [him]me as if someone might steal [him]me away” (15). Coates’ father’s fear forces him to lash out violently and thus to protect him from the white oppressors or the violent black community who may “steal [him] away”. Thus, through the personal anecdote of his childhood with imagery of violence, Coates illustrates that black parents are violent towards their children because they are “afraid” of the racial vulnerability they face in society. Additionally Coates articulates that “[he] would hear it in [his]my Dad’s voice...Either I can beat him, or the police”(16). This shows that black parents feel responsible for shaping their children in a way exemplary of discipline and obedience to avoid being brutally taught these principles by the racist “police”. By employing this dialogue, Coates highlights the fact that black parents are not necessarily vitriolic towards their children but rather they seek to protect them from the racially violent society that surrounds them. Moreover, Coates expresses to his son that “[he]I feels fear most acutely whenever [he] you leave me” (14). The personal pronoun “I” highlights that like many other black parents he also personally feels the

fear of losing his child to the violence in the racist society. Thus, Coates employs this personal anecdote as to demonstrate that black parents are burdened with the constant fear of the loss of their innocent children to racial injustice and violence. Also, the fact that Coates is able to resonate with this fear from the perspective of a black child and the perspective of a black parent reinforces the claim that racial oppression is systematically generational. Ultimately, Coates employs an anecdote and violent imagery to convey that black parents use violence to force children to conform to self awareness as to protect them from the racial injustice within society. Thus, Coates conveys how black parents also play a role in the development of fear and violence within the children who mature conformed to being oppressed by the racism and brutality they are exposed to in their communities.

Finally, Coates employs violent imagery and anaphora to convey that blacks are subjected to the pernicious oppression that compels them to be afraid and react violently towards each other to gain among themselves. Coates conveys that “to be black” is “to be naked before the elements of the world” such as, “guns, fists, knives, crack, rape” (17). The fact that being “black” guarantees one’s exposure to violence such as “guns” or “fists” or “knives” conveys that racism in society causes black vulnerability to conflict or violence . By employing violent imagery, Coates highlights the racial injustice society is plagued with that has forced blacks to go through violence, Furthermore, Coates conveys that in the racist society “what matters is our condition, what matters is the system that makes your body breakable” (18). Here, Coates highlights that racial injustice is the “system” that “matters” because it gives the oppressors the power that leaves the black “body breakable”. Thus, through anaphora, Coates emphasizes that racism empowers oppressors and creates fear among the oppressed black community that has been broken by means of violence. Additionally, Coates illustrates that, “the nakedness is the correct and intended result of the policy” for blacks have been “forced for centuries to live under fear. The law did not protect us”(17). Coates censures society’s “law” and “policy” because the fear and constant violence blacks experience is the “intended result” that the oppressors look forward to. Thus, employs the anaphora of “nakedness” as to emphasize that the vulnerability that blacks feel and go through is the overall goal of the systematic racial oppression that governs society. Ultimately, Coates employs anaphora and violent imagery to demonstrate that blacks are burdened by the racial injustice in society that forces them to constantly be afraid and this provokes violence within their communities.

Therefore, through anaphora and violent imagery, Coates suggests that the racial oppression has created fear that has forced blacks to react violently due to the systematic racial injustice they are vulnerable to. Coates also illustrates that this traditional cycle of fear and violence is a burden is passed down from one generation of blacks to the next one continuously. This is because the black adults who conform to the fear of the institution of racial oppression, violently teach their offsprings to be self aware of their inferiority and become accustomed to being afraid as well in society. Thus, Coates corroborates Long’s claim because they both convey that fear and violence out of ignorance collaborate to reinforce racism in society. Coates continues to underscore that as to terminate this systematic generational oppression black people should work toward uniting their communities in order to reform a society that has accustomed to breaking “the black body” politically, economically and eventually socially