Ta-Nehisi Coates: Between the world and me

Ta-Nehisi Coates kertoo kirjaksi kootuissa esseissään millaista on elää keskellä nykyajan Amerikkaa, jossa rotusorto on arkipäivää: Between the world and me (Spiegel &​amp; Grau, 2015; ISBN 978-0-8129-9354-7).



Kirjan tekstit ovat ikään kuin kirjeitä Coatesin pojalle, omaelämänkerrallisia kertomuksia siitä miten rotusorto näyttäytyy arjessa, koulusta työelämään, kaikkialla. Poliisi voi tappaa tummaihoisen ihmisen ilman seuraamuksia. Kadulla voi koska tahansa joutua pahoinpitelyn ja uhkausten kohteeksi. Opiskelu ja työelämä on lähtökohtaisesti epäreilua, sillä valkoihoinen on aina etusijalla, olkoon tilanne muuten mikä tahansa.

In a series of essays, written as a letter to his son, Coates confronts the notion of race in America and how it has shaped American history, many times at the cost of black bodies and lives. Thoughtfully exploring personal and historical events, from his time at Howard University to the Civil War, the author poignantly asks and attempts to answer difficult questions that plague modern society.

In this short memoir, the "Atlantic" writer explains that the tragic examples of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and those killed in South Carolina are the results of a systematically constructed and maintained assault to black people--a structure that includes slavery, mass incarceration, and police brutality as part of its foundation.

From his passionate and deliberate breakdown of the concept of race itself to the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement, Coates powerfully sums up the terrible history of the subjugation of black people in the United States. A timely work, this title will resonate with all teens--those who have experienced racism as well as those who have followed the recent news coverage on violence against people of color.