“Between the World and me” a must read for white people everywhere

Noah Siderhurst, Editor-in-Chief

My first reaction after starting “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates was one of sadness. It is safe to say that the mood of “Between the World and Me” is not very cheerful. It is also safe to say that despite this, or maybe because of it, “Between the World and Me” is one of the most eye-opening and useful books I, and any other white person, can possibly read.

Written from the point of view of Coates and in the format of a letter to his adolescent son, the book offers new and intriguing views on issues surrounding the idea of race in our country through Coates’ own experiences. Speaking as a white person, the idea of  “the dream,”  a theme throughout the whole book, stuck with me more than anything else. Coates discusses how this “Dream” allows “the Dreamers” to live in their own reality, one built on the bodies of black people.

Other themes included Coates’ concern for his son and the idea of the black body as tied to its physical nature, which white people cannot relate to as readily, making it even more insightful. On almost every new page lies a new idea that as a young white person, I had never really thought about a whole lot before this.

Now it seems I think about these issues all the time. In the one AP class I am taking this year, I cannot help but see how many white people there are in proportion to people of non-white ethnicity, although our school as a whole is diverse. I cannot help but question why this is through the lens of “Between the World and Me”, seeing it not as a result of black and brown people being somehow less intelligent, but rather as a cog in the wheel of the culture of these divided states. It is only by thinking about and discussing these issues that we can begin to bridge the divide between the world of “the Dreamers” and “the people who believe they are white” (another idea elaborated on in the book), and the world of everyone else. “Between the World and Me” has made me question my existence as a white person in America, and that’s a good thing.

The most chilling and profoundly impactful moment of the whole book for me came almost at the very end. Coates writes about “the Dreamers” to his son Samori, “I do not believe that we can stop them, Samori, because they must ultimately stop themselves. And I still urge you to struggle… But do not pin your struggle on their conversion. The Dreamers will have to learn to struggle themselves, to understand that the field for their dream, the stage where they have painted themselves white, is the deathbed of us all.”

I realize that I am “a Dreamer,” and I hope that I can begin to realize the full extent of what that entails so I may begin to untangle myself from the web white people have woven for themselves. I hope one day we will all be freed from “the Dream.” “Between the World and Me” was the first step to being free for me, and it can be the first step for many other white people too.