ENGL 100
4/6/2020
What is it that Stands ‘’Between the World and Me’’?
Racial discrimination is a great social challenge in the entire world today. Coates
expresses the fears and struggles which the black people experience in America. ‘’Between the
world and me’’ is a letter written by Coates to his son Samori as advice on how the black people
stay in America. Coates wrote this letter as an extension of Wright’s poem about the life of black
people in America. Both Coates and Wright explain the aspects of racism, brutality, social
injustices, and enslavement affecting black people in America. Coates, however, takes a more indepth
view of the beliefs, institutions, and the force that prevents the black person from leading a
life similar to that of the white Americans. He believes that there is an enormous barrier between
his life and that of the host. This paper discusses the police institution, the justice institution,
poverty, the education institutions, and social heritage in America as the forces, beliefs, and
institutions that stand between the black people and the whites.
The police institution brutality in America is a barrier between the black people and the
Americans. While staying in Baltimore ghettos, Coates witnessed the deaths of many innocent
Africans. The black bodies in America were always at the risk of losing lives. American police
officers were the perpetrators of African murder. Eric Garner and Tamir Rice were among the
Africans who were killed by brutal American police officers (Coates 12). Coates describes the
killings of Africans as a boundary laid between them and the whites in life.
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Moreover, Coates regrets the death of a young black person in America whom he admits
he thinks of every day ‘’ and about whom I expect to think of every day’’ (Coates 32). Prince
Jones was a young religious and generous African. Coates describes the place of Prince Jones as
a wound in his heart, for he loved him very much. The brutal killings led to fear among black
people (Marshal 19). Such killings were a significant threat to the black people living in America
and created a considerable boundary between them and the whites (marshal 15). He claims that
regardless of professional success gained by the black people, they always at risk of violence.
Coates emphasizes the need to develop a system of equal justice in the country.
The justice institution creates inequality in the jurisdiction system in America. The
judicial system in the country is described to issue unfair rulings. According to Wright, black
people in the U.S. appeared to be the victims of this inferior jurisdiction in the country. Police
officers who brutally kill Africans escape judgement. There is a total failure by the justice system
in the U.S. to establish measures that suppress the oppression of black people. Wright
emphasizes on how violence was exercised against black people. ‘’And a thousand faces swirled
around me, clamoring that
My life is burned’’ (Wright, 1). Samori, Coates’ son, realized that a police officer who was
responsible for the killing of Mike Brown would not be punished. It seems normal for law
offenders to escape the law. Oppression of the black bodies in America seemed just to the justice
institutions. Coates understands that it was normal for white murderers to escape the law. The
justice sector, in this case, was a significant barrier that prevented Coates and other black persons
in the U.S. from leading lives similar to that of the whites.
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Poverty creates a veil between the black people and the whites in the U.S. Most black
people in the country live in abject poverty (Esposito 275). Unlike whites, they experience low
living standards. Coates narrates about his childhood life. He was forced to school in the streets
because of poverty. Black people could not afford the same childhood experience as the whites.
Coates experienced harsh economic conditions during his childhood. While staying at Baltimore
ghettos, his childhood life was at a crack epidemic. Only poor Africans lived in the ghettos. The
aspect of poverty was a veil between him and the world as he could not enjoy life like the whites
did in their childhood. There was a line created by skin color that made it difficult to raise a
black child amid white children (Du Bois 19). The Americans had desires for gorgeous houses
and better living standards. In his letter, Coates meant that the dream was only for the whites in
America. Americans achieved their dreams by oppressing the Africans (Du Bois 36). After
reaching their goals, most white people in America fail to care about the living standards of black
people. When leaving the T.V. studios, Coates was sad to see white Americans who seemed to
lead extravagant lives. The white families, in this case, had embraced their dreams, which were
impossible for Africans to achieve. Coates’ experience of poverty makes him write this letter to
his son as a piece of advice. He is advising his son Samori to live out of desires for high living
standards since they were hard for Africans to embrace.
The education system is a barrier between black persons and the whites in America.
Racism forces in the country played a significant role in ensuring discrimination in education.
Coates learned in the streets in Baltimore. He underwent racial discrimination from the whites.
He believes that the education provided to Africans was not adequate to meet their growth and
education needs. ‘’I sensed schools were hiding something, drugging us with false morality so
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that we could not see’’ (Coates 27). The American education system provided to black people
was deceitful. It aimed at ensuring the black people did not see the social injustices and racism
that was witnessed. The education provided as a barrier between the black persons in the U.S.
and their knowledge of social crimes in the country.
The American heritage justifies boundaries between the Africans and the white people in
America. The collection of beliefs that white people in America rely on justifying racial
discrimination in the country. Coates narrates in part 1of his letter that due to their tendency to
defy democracies, Americans usually forget that they consistently violate specific values.
Violation of democratic values led to the theft and torture of Africans. Furthermore, the
Americans believed that in a black person was not included in Abraham Lincoln’s statement,
”government of the people”. They thought that only white people in the country were involved in
that government. This belief has led to severe problems within the country surrounding social
injustice (Esposito, 271). The government of the people had the objective of ensuring the
freedom of people and the rights of persons. Black people, however, have been exposed to both
mental and physical torture. Africans are oppressed by both the white citizens and the
government. The aspect of dreamers finds an explanation within the beliefs of the white federal
citizens due to their belief that only white Americans desire to have ambitions for substantial
economic progress. Dreamers continuously plunder both the earth and black bodies. He advises
the black people to find joy and marvel instead of hunt for wealthy desires that have proved hard
to embrace.
In conclusion, racial discrimination is not near its end times. It is a vice that was intensely
cultivated within the culture of people. The cultivation of racism has a significant impact on
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society. The vulnerable groups suffer brutality, oppression, social injustice, and inequalities in the
distribution of wealth. The beliefs of people worldwide and leadership regimes determine the
levels of racial discrimination within a specific state. Coates was an African who lived in
America facing several childhood challenges as a result of racial discrimination. Coates
addresses major problems that black people face in the U.S.A. In his letter to his son Samori, he
advises him and all other black bodies on how to survive in a country surrounded by social
injustices, oppression, and brutality. He explains that while achieving social justice and equality
in wealth distribution is difficult. The black people in America should always marvel, live with
joy, and value their efforts.
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Work Cited
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the world and me. Text publishing, 2015.
Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt. The Souls of Black Folk (Unabridged). e-artnow, 2018.
Esposito, Michael H. “Inequality in Process: Income and Heterogeneous Educational Health
Gradients Among Blacks and Whites in the U.S.A.” Race and Social Problems 11.4
(2019): 269-281.
Marshall, Latrice. “An examination of police brutality in the United States: living and working in
a state of fear.” (2018).
Wright, Richard. Between the world and me. New York, NY: International Publishers, 1936.
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