Between the World and Me (updated)

Coates’ Between the World and Me is a book written as a step towards equality. Coates spends 152 pages trying to draw attention to the way the world is for people of color as an effort to get the audience to acknowledge the injustice and inequality that occurs in today’s world. In doing so, on page 7 Coates says “race is the child of racism, not the father” meaning that race did not form naturally but was formed purposefully within our society to create status within our community. The white members of a society use race as a tool to assert ourselves to the top, to maximize our perceived status and by doing so we overlook the injustices that those of color face. 

A recurring theme in Coates’ Between the World and Me is fear; Coates is a black individual and explains how he is chronically worried about his body’s well being solely because of the construct of race in America. The fear Coates experiences is only present in the United States because the strong construct of race exists in the United States. However, the strong construct of race in America becomes apparent to Coates when he and his wife embark on a trip to Paris. Because his fearful state was so natural to him, upon arriving in France, he expected that the same fear he feels when living in America would continue on into France. However, Coates is pleasantly surprised when he lands in France; he notices that the Paris streets remind him of New York but the Paris streets are missing the “ever present fear”(123) that Coates is so used to feeling in America. Coates spent every waking moment living in the United States fearful, fearful that he might not make it home, fearful that he might be shot by a gang or a policeman no less because of his black body. In Paris, Coates notices that he is able to walk without having to look behind him, he doesn’t have to worry the misjudgment of a police officer and is able to live his days in Paris fear free. Because the idea of race is so prevalent in America, Coates is taken aback when he is able to walk carefree in Paris because while race exists in the French society it isn’t nearly as apparent. Coates is able to walk and not fear for his body’s wellbeing, able to walk and be equal to those who are white; because the construct of race doesn’t have as strong of a presence in Paris

Once back in America Coates is once again submerged in the concept of race and the sense of status that it creates. Coates describes a specific interaction that he and his son had with a white man and woman in a movie theatre. He and his son were in their territory, the Upper West Side, an expensive part of town when a white woman laid a hand on his son. Coates explains that had she been in his part of town, a place of less affluence, she wouldn’t have had that audacity to touch his son because there “would be a penalty” for her actions. However, because the woman was not out of place and because it was her part of town, Coates’ retaliation put him at fault. His retaliation made it so that Coates ran the risk of imprisonment, when a white man who had overheard this whole situation says “‘I could have you arrested’” (94). This white man was able to assert himself over Coates because similarly to the woman, he too had status in this area, no one in the theatre would say anything to the white man’s threat because because it is a white man’s area. Coates didn’t have status, and unfortunately those who don’t have status don’t have a say, especially when everyone else in the surrounding area knows each other’s name. Both the man and woman have status considering they were both white and in a wealthy neighborhood, a place where Coates, a black man has no status due to the fact that he is black in a white, rich neighborhood, something that society doesn’t allow to mix.

Due to the ever present concept of race, there is a great divide between the world that Coates describes and the one that I live in. In a community like the North Shore, a predominantly white area there is a sense of status within our community, where most individuals who reside here are extremely wealthy. The normality of wealth creates the expectation for the youth living in this area. For children living in the North Shore the expectation is that we go to school so that we can graduate, in an article written about New Trier, a school whose student body is 79.9 % white, (ILReportCard) the author explains that the graduation rate at New Trier, for the past five years has averaged out to be 97% (ILReportCard). We graduate because then we are expected to go to college, so that we can get a good, high paying job so that we can make enough money to reside in a neighborhood where the houses are expensive, so that we achieve a sense of status. Coates describes his upbringing and says that he had two paths to take growing up: the streets or school. Coates states that he didn’t pursue school because he couldn’t see where “it could possibly lead” (115). In the North Shore, school is the only option because we believe it to lead us to success which enables us to achieve status. Without education you cannot get a good job, you cannot make the money required to live in an area like the North Shore, especially when the “average house price in Winnetka is 1.1 million” (Meadows), making our area inaccessible to those of lower status and to those who don’t have money. Status is very apparent in the North shore, it comes from the type of house you live in and how expensive it is, the college your went to, the degree you have, your job. I see the markers of status within my community, as a white woman living in the North Shore, I see big, extravagant houses when I am walking to school, I see white faces accessorized with gold jewelry and lululemon pants when I walk through the halls, even though there is no price tag, wealth is very apparent wherever I look. In today’s society the status of someone who went to college is greater than the status of someone who lived their life on the streets. And that is what the white members of our society prides ourselves on: who has a better status; in our community we concentrate our efforts to make sure that we are better educated thus ensuring ourselves with better careers. Our race contributes to our status because our society was constructed to benefit white people of a community, considering it’s inaccessible to other races, rather than benefiting members of all races. Without having people who have to choose between the streets or school are what make is so that those who went to school look good, so that the members of our community are superior to those not living in it, we choose not to acknowledge the fact that there are some people who have to decide between school and the streets because in order to maintain our position at the top of the pyramid, we need to have someone who is lesser. Unfortunately in today’s society, those who are on the bottom are those who are sentenced to the streets due to the color of their skin, the man made construct of race has made it that way.

The white members of society created race because we are so consumed with status and use race as a way to assert themselves over others. We make status a priority over equality because we know that without having someone on the bottom, there cannot be anyone on top and to us, that is unacceptable and unfortunately we, the white members of society work hard to make sure that we remain on top. Despite attempts to make housing around the North Shore more affordable house remain to be very expensive. Simply put, those who are not successful, those who do not achieve a sense of status cannot live in this area. In order to make our community more accessible we need for the members of the North Shore to be conscientious of our lack of diversity and our obsession with status so we can make a change to lower the cost of a house so that it can be made available to someone who can’t spend 1.1 million dollars on a house. By doing so we can make it so that everyone sees the benefits of taking a school route rather than turning to the streets, make it so that more people can benefit from the North Shore’s many resources. We can help to diversify New Trier, so that when I walk through the halls I don’t just see white faces. Our lack of effort to make a change goes to show that we like the way we live, we like the people that reside in our community because we want to be surrounded by people who mirror our successes. We cannot change unless everyone is on board and we cannot change if we continue to disregard the inequalities that exist at hand; people shouldn't have to choose between the streets and school, but that is today’s reality. What can we do to improve our area? Do you think steps towards equality can be made? If so how can we be effective in our first steps?