The Cove is a documentary about a man named Richard O’Barry who used to capture and train dolphins for the television show Flipper in 1964. However, he eventually realized that dolphins were not meant to be kept in captivity, but decided not to change anything. Then one day, his dolphin, Kathy, basically committed suicide in his arms. She swam to the surface, took one last breath, and voluntarily did not take another one. It was after this incident that Richard’s entire mindset had changed.…
Well known essayist and writer, Ta-Nehisi Coates, wrote an essay, “The Case for Reparations,” that was published in The Atlantic, in 2014, in which the essay describes the hardships the black race has gone through and is still are going through. Coates’ purpose is to inform his readers of the struggle the black race has gone through each day and show why there is a need for reparations. He creates a compassionate tone to lead his readers to fully understand what it is like to grow up black in America. In “The Case for Reparation’s,” Coates uses a mixture of tone, diction, and historical imagery to create the readers to want to know and understand the struggle of being a black American.…
This week’s reading “The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: Racialized Social Democracy and the “White” Problem in American Studies” by George Lipsitz analyzed the different social structures put in place to advantage the dominant white race and disadvantage groups of color. While previous institutions of racism have been more overt like Slavery and Jim Crow laws the new forms of racism adhering to the anti-black racism theory and no race theory are more hidden in regular societies through the ghetto, prison, and political/ cultural struggles. This article focuses on more than just African Americans though, it focuses on other groups of color like Native Americans and Latinos. These institutions of racism. These forms of racism are continued…
“The paradox— and a fearful paradox it is— is that the American Negro can have no future anywhere, on any continent, as long as he is unwilling to accept his past. To accept one’s past— one’s history— is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it.” (81) This passage is taken from the second part of James Baldwin’s book, The Fire Next Time, in which Baldwin states his personal opinion on racism and the hardships of blacks. A sentence before this passage he is says that Negroes have only been formed by the United States and not Africa or the religion of Islam.…
In his article, The Case for Reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates insists that “until Americans reckon with their compounding moral debts, America will never be whole”. He writes that after four hundred thirty-five years of racial injustice towards the African American community, the American government owes them. The slavery and slave-like conditions people were put in is something The United States should and will be ashamed of until the end of time. The horrific experiences and tragedies people endured are something that will hopefully never happen again. To think of the innocent who were lynched, raped, assaulted, and found guilty of crimes that they did not commit could make anyone’s stomach turn.…
As the name of the title aptly suggests, Ta-Nehisi Coates, in his article, “The Case for Reparations”, builds a case for the racial minority, that is black folk, to seek amends for the years of injustice and servitude rendered by them to the majority, here in America. Through the medium of Clyde Ross, a veteran but now ordinary citizen, representative of the plight of any other black person living in that era, Coates attempts to provide an argument for the ills and hardships that the Blacks were faced with throughout the previous few centuries, under the regime of white supremacy, in the land of opportunity. In his article, Coates emphasizes not only on the explicit forms and visible aspects of racism and discrimination prevalent, such as…
Coates’s obsession with the so called “culture of the streets” is reflective of how easy it can be to slip up and get oneself killed if a person’s skin is any color other than white (24). The formative years of Coates’s childhood in West Baltimore solidifies his perception and preoccupation for the safety of his body, and of the lengths he must go to in order to protect…
Or even in society today, Coates must not realize there are white females who marry black men and white men who marry black females. He doesn’t see the good in a white man who stops to help a homeless black man who calls a bridge his home. He must not recognize that black men and women are leaders and have people who follow and support them. Coates doesn’t see the black basketball coach who is respected by twelve teenage white girls. If he does, he has failed to persuade myself, as a reader, that white people are more than a stereotype.…
Coates shares his knowledge and prior experience about what the body means. “How do I live free in this black body” (Coates 12) Coates mentions the struggles of being free as African American. How growing up during a time that was not political correct lead to social violence to the people of color. How easy it is for your body to be stolen from you.…
The Case for Reparations is intensely englighful on why black people are in the predicament we are in now. As a race, we cannot act as victims but instead, work to be on top or at least finally equal. The case for reparations is real and they are well deserved considering the struggle black people have always had to go through. Coates explains in detail with human examples of people being legally mistreated and stolen from. “Ross had tried to get a legitimate mortgage in another neighborhood, but was told by a loan officer that there was no financing available.…
Ta-Nehisi Coates is a journalist and national correspondent who writes about culture, politics and social issues. He grew up in west Baltimore Maryland where he came about race in America through a combination of patient instruction, firsthand experience and tragedy of his friends’ death. Mr. Coates attended Howard University, where he described it as being the loveliest and unique. Howard University can be known as a historical black institution, having African-Americans from all over the world attending its prestigious background. His book Between the World and Me, is a written letter to his son Samori.…
Throughout American history, black communities have been discriminated and incriminated due to the color of one’s skin. Ta-Nehisi Coates’ expresses his discontent with the proclamation of American independence and democracy through means of social media and other public platforms. Coates’ conveys American democracy as a biased, violent, and racist tactic used to distract audiences from the cruel uses of power. America is categorized as having the inability to take responsibility for its actions during times of civil or physical war. Coates’ describes America considers itself to be a glorious and exceptionalistic country when he writes, “America believes itself exceptional, the greatest and noblest nation to ever exist, a lone champion standing between the white city of democracy and the terrorists, despots, barbarians, and other enemies of civilization” (8).…
About forty years later, Coates wrote a book modeled after Baldwin’s book. Between the World and Me is written recently, but it still contained the violence of being black in this society and his experience against racism. He talked about his feelings about reality in the U.S. I strongly believe these two books are good evidence of racism in this decade. In Coates book Between the World and Me, he states the history of…
In Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, The Beautiful Struggle, he speaks on the experiences he faced throughout his childhood. Ta-Nehisi was raised in Baltimore, Maryland, which is a predominately Black community. Growing up Ta-Nehisi witnessed and was faced with many street challenges such as, violence, gangs and drugs that were too advanced for him to handle. His father, Paul Coates, worked hard to transition Ta-Nehisi from a naïve boy into a strong and wise Black man. Coates’s experience in The Beautiful Struggle defied the stereotype placed on Black people.…
In his article, Black Family In the Age of Mass Incarceration, Ta-Nehisi Coates talks about his concerns with how poorly African American families are treated in society. Coates mentions how the government is not taking the mistreatment of African American communities problem seriously and is afraid this is going to have a very negative effect on their community and future generations. Throughout the article, Coates brought up numerous issues; however, the biggest dilemma discussed was the issue of poverty. Poverty is an important issue people should focus on because it causes great damage to families economically and socially. According to Coates, poverty in the African American culture increases the chance of discrimination and injustice;…