Analyzing Injustice Against Blacks In Between The World And Me
The blacks in America have faced racial injustice and violence throughout their history. Between the World and Me and Between the World and Me are both essays by Ta-Nehisi coates and poems by Richard Wright. They use similar language to show how America’s history was violent and hasn’t improved much. Both authors are interested in the history of mistreatment of African Americans and the ways that Americans of today try to cover it up. Coates’s essay describes how black youths are losing their innocence due to oppression and injustice, while Wright’s poetry details the loss faith they have in a superior being.
The author of the essay Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi, uses his letter to his son as a way to communicate the message that the black community is experiencing hardships like oppression, the dissimulation and mistreatment of African Americans, and the loss innocence of the youth. Coates uses the past to examine the oppression facing blacks today. He uses slavery in his essay to show that oppression was a result of white Americans inflicting violence on slaves, in order for them to feel fear and gain control. This is illustrated by the quote: “Enslavement must therefore be casual wrath, random manglings and the blowing of brains and heads over the river while the body tries to escape.”
Coates describes the various forms of punishment and torture that slaves were subjected to in this quote. He does so to demonstrate, for us readers, how the sufferings of blacks in the past were marked by violent acts. Coates writes about the fact that the treatment blacks received during the slave era is still present today under the administration of police and not by white slave-owners. “The destructors are merely men who correctly interpret our heritage and its legacy. They are not slave owners.” This legacy aims for the shackling and enslavement of blacks.” (Coates 4). Coates writes in this quote that the current law enforcement is focusing on the destruction of black bodies and lives to enforce the old ideologies, such as slavery, of America. Blacks are not only oppressed, but they also have to hide America’s abuse of blacks. Coates illustrates this idea by relating an incident where he recalls a conversation with a reporter.
It was as if she asked me to wake her up from a beautiful dream when I told her about my body. I’ve seen this dream my whole life. I have seen it all my life. Memorial Day cookouts. Block associations. Driveways. The Dream is Cubs and Tree Houses. So long have I wanted to escape, to fold the country of my home over my own head. The Dream, our bodies’ bedding, rests on us. In that moment I was very sad, not only for myself, but also for the host and all the families.
Coates’ recitation shows that many people are happy to live their dream lives without caring about how they arrived or what others think. Coates’s concealment of mistreatment can be seen in another quote. Serious history is the West. The West has always been white.” (Coates). Coates explains in this quote how Americans do not represent blacks equally through out history. They put blacks into a “category for trivial pursuit” instead of into textbooks, where they can be studied by everyone. Coates claims that the greatest hardship facing the African-American community is the loss or innocence of black youth.
Coates writes about his Baltimore youth and how he lost his innocence. Coates states, “To live in Baltimore in my youth, I was naked in front all the weapons, fists. knives, crack. rape. and disease.” It shows that Coates’ innocence is lost because he was exposed to negative influences as a youth. Coates shows a similar example of how black youths lose their innocence by quoting: “The little boy reached into his ski jacket to pull out a pistol.” (Coates, 6). Coates describes in this encounter how he, as a 6th grader, saw other boys carry guns around and threaten people. It shows a lack of innocence since a young child shouldn’t be worried about the possibility of death every day. Ta-Nehisi’s Coates uses his writings to communicate messages that the black community is experiencing hardships like oppression, the dissimulation and mistreatment of African Americans, and the loss innocence of the youth.
Richard Wright’s poem Between the World and Me uses the story of a black man who was found dead to reveal the oppression and injustice of blacks. It also reveals the concealment and loss of faith. Wright’s poem Between the World and me shows how blacks have been oppressed in the history. The author describes a situation where a black person was being tortured, while whites were watching and chanting that worse things would happen.
Cigars, gin and cigarettes are all passed around from mouth tomouth.
The whore’s lipstick was red, and the cigarettes were glowing.
She smooches,
I was surrounded by a hundred faces, all clamoring for me to do something.
My life is burned ….
Then they stripped me and beat my teeth.
My throat until I swallowed blood.
They were shouting loudly and I could not hear them.
They slipped their hands in the black wetness of the body.
I was tied to a sapling. (Wright, 33-42)
This quote illustrates that even though he was a black person, white people would still not take into consideration what he had to say. Wright agrees with Coates that blacks have been oppressed in society and have had no voice in the past or present. This quote also shows us how the history of torture against blacks has been concealed and hidden from everyone. “And one morning I found it, in a clearing of grassy trees guarded only by scaly Oaks and Elms. And all the sooty detail rose to the surface, pushing between me and the rest of the world …. The ashes were a cushion with a white design. ” (Wright 1-8). This quote is a good example of a close-up analysis. It shows that the storyteller stumbled on the remains unintentionally. The author uses “thrusting theirself between the World and me” in order to convey that he suddenly understands that everyone else has withdrawn when he finds the remains.
Coates’ essay is a good example of this, as he describes how in American history the history black mistreatments and tortures are hidden away. In the end, the author’s poem portrays the idea of a loss in faith. The author shows this loss of trust in various places. “Here was an image of white bones dozing on a cushion ash.” A charred sapling stump was pointing an accusing finger at the sky.” This quote can be understood as symbolic, in that the charred tree stump is pointed accusingly towards the sky. The charred sapling is seen to represent the person who died in pain and agony accusing the heavens. This next quote shows a lack of faith in the author: “Now my bones are dry and stony, staring with yellow surprise at sun ….”.” It is said that this guy has lost faith, because he was surprised by his death. He looked up at the sky to see how cruel the world could be. The sun did not show any emotion as he stared up. In contrast, Coates describes the loss innocence that occurs in children at a very young age. Wright, on the other hand, talks about a man who has lost faith due to his horrendous experience. Richard Wright’s Between the World and Me is a poem that exposes the oppression and unfair treatment of African Americans, the concealment and loss of faith in blacks.
Between the World and Me is an essay by TaNehisi Cates and a poem by Richard Wright that both use the same language to communicate the negative impact of the whitewashing on the black population in America. The way in which both authors discuss the mistreatment of blacks throughout history and the ways in which Americans, present and past, have covered the truth about the past is a good example. Coates’ essay shows how blacks’ oppression led to their loss of innocence due to being exposed to negative influences when they were children, while Wright’s poem explains the impact of oppression on blacks. Richard Wright, Ta-Nehisi coates and their writings have similar ideologies. They show that we should all look at the past to see how racism and oppression can be stopped.
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