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1-Page Summary of Between the World and Me
Overall Summary
Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote a nonfiction book called Between the World and Me, which was published in 2015. It won awards and was praised by Toni Morrison as required reading. Coates is also an acclaimed comic writer for Marvel Comics who has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.
Between the World and Me is a letter to Coates’s son, Samori, on how racism affects black people. It focuses on the physical and psychological damage caused by it. In addition, he talks about how this history has affected him personally as well as his son. He explains that police brutality towards black youth is still an issue today because of America’s unwillingness to acknowledge its past including slavery and Jim Crow laws.
Coates weaves his personal experience into his social commentary. He recalls how he reacted when the verdict of Michael Brown’s case was announced. After a five-month trial, the police officer who murdered Brown was charged with no crime. Coates recalls hearing his son cry in his room and choosing not to comfort him after that announcement.
He also remembers growing up in Baltimore and learning at an early age what it meant to be black in America, where he might be subject to corporal punishment from others because of their fear of death or due to their own prejudice against blacks (which may stem from past experiences). This knowledge helped him understand why young men used fashion and bravado as a shield against this fear of death and corporal punishment they received from their parents, which served as a warning shot for the real world.
Ta-Nehisi Coates questions the way he has been taught to see himself and how that is influenced by his white surroundings. He turns to Malcolm X for answers, but when he arrives at Howard University, he learns more about African American history from his professors than from any book. The older poets around him teach him how to write in a way that reflects what’s going on in the world around him. His relationships with women expose him to different expressions of blackness and love, which help shape who he becomes as an adult.
After meeting a girl from Chicago, Coates’s son Samori is born. Fatherhood makes him think about how his death would affect his child. Shortly after Samori is born, one of Coates’ friends from Howard University named Prince Jones dies at the hands of police officers. This event further convinces Coates that black people in America are treated unfairly by institutions regardless of their social standing or accomplishments.
In his essay, Coates describes how he feels like an outsider in New York City. He sees the entitlement of white people and is reminded of America’s past as a slave nation. Even small interactions can be reminders that America was built on slavery. It’s difficult for him to ignore this history because it seems so ingrained into American culture and identity.
The author concludes the book by returning to Mecca with his wife and son. He explains that it is important for them to know about their history, good and bad. He encourages them not to internalize the struggles of being black but instead struggle for wisdom. The Dreamers will have to learn how they are hurting themselves as well as others in order to understand why they should change their ways.
Chapter 1, Pages 1-25
In the beginning of this book, Coates describes his experience on a television show where he was asked to explain why he believed that white people were racist. He says that it’s because “American history” is based on racism and violence against black people. In order to make sense of the racial injustices in America, Coates compares them to a “glorious dream” for white Americans. He claims that it would be like asking white Americans who have benefitted from this system to wake up from their dreams and face reality.
