When a Ferguson grand jury declines to charge policeman Darren Wilson for murdering Michael Brown, Ta-Nehisi Coates watches as his son Samori walks into his bedroom and cries. Michael Brown is a young African American boy who was unarmed when he was shot by the police officer in Missouri. Ta-Nehisi Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic, a winner of the National Book Award and a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius Grant” 2015. Between the World and Me is a critical response he writes to his son that explains and details his experience of racism in the United States of America and the death of young black men under the crimes of violence. Many Americans believe we live in a post-racial era. It is not true. The struggles of minorities especially African Americans continue to strike. Racial divides in socioeconomic and segregation of neighborhoods that have led to the insecurity of African American descendants can be seen in Between the World and Me.
Racism Is the Father of Race
Racism has been in existence since the being of the human society. Human beings have always feared and even hated their fellows with different colours of skin and low social status. Racism has always been an intrinsic aspect of human nature. Racism has since immemorial been wired deep into the human genetics; therefore, it is very difficult to fight the divisions caused by racism since it is the deepest form of oppression known to man. The concepts of race and racism are contemporary inventions, which stem from the fear and hatred founded on the idea of inferiority due to some inherited features characteristic in some races. These concepts came to the realization during the slave trade period, which were driven by the Rome and the Greece empires.
Being that slavery during that period was not perceived as racial issues, therefore, it can be said that racism indeed came before the concept of race itself. In the ancient times of the ruling by these empires, slaves were purely war captives, who are the great fathers of Europe's inhabitants today. The slaves were made personal properties of the empire rulers, without any considerable issue regarding their racial and ethical origins. Important to note, is that the slave trade period, at its initiation never did not result in a rise in racism against the blacks. Therefore, this explains Coates quote regarding race being born from racism; race is just a matter of hierarchy, which wasn't the only racism propeller ("JIM CROW STRIKES AGAIN: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESS CAMPAIGN AGAINST SEGREGATION IN BOWLING DURING WORLD WAR II" 280).
Reasons Why Racism Still Exists
Racism is still in existence for many reasons, which include social and economic insecurities, human nature, national demarcations, and the idea that black represents evil. Social and economic insecurities arise from xenophobia, which is the dislike one harbours against the citizens of other countries they consider inferior. There have been evident examples which portray the hostility that has been encountered by immigrants from other nationals when they visit other countries. Racial crimes are in most cases driven by a view regarding a poor economic ground by some individuals. The intrinsic human nature is also reason racism still exists today. Every individual somehow is affected by the inferiority complex. Racial segregation has offered the citizens from the developed countries a wonderful opportunity to paint the other in bad light. The victims of racism have always been reminded of how they are inferior. National distinctions, some countries, especially in Africa and South Asia, are termed as Third-world or still developing countries. Such terms paint the countries as inferior as compared to the already developed countries. Therefore, the citizens of the third world country are always discriminated when they visit the developed countries. Some terms considered as differentiating are aspects embedded in contemporary life, boils down to white and black groupings among the individuals.
Finally is the notion by many white people that black is evil. For instance, black cats are always considered bringers of ill-omen, black robes signify death. Due to such notions and practices, people always associate black with evil, death and even decay. Even Satan's image is characterized by black, same to the much-dreaded hell. Such perceptions, propelled by different channels have always resulted to an implantation of negative attitudes, which have led to racism (Becker 129).
Socioeconomic Insecurities and Segregation of African Americans
African Americans encounter both economic and social disadvantages, which not only include poverty, but also encompass segregation in academic institutions and residential places, and additionally job discrimination. Students and job seekers who are victims of racism are depressed. Academic institutions offering education to black children are located far into the low and poor neighbourhoods lacking important infrastructure and amenities. Residential areas where the blacks reside also face hard conditions which ensure an almost impossible academic attainments and successes. The conditions are therefore an indirect cause of the African American population's poverty. On the other hand, the housing segregation coupled up with the school segregation is factors which increase the difficulty to attain achievements. The educational policy is motivated by the nation's history regarding racism. It has become evident that racial segregation in institutions and residential areas where poor African Americans stay have been propelled by factors like private segregation, economic disadvantages, trends in demographics and even individual preferences. It is also very difficult for policy makers to try and alleviate the issue since they are not aware of the segregation which is sponsored by the state. The poor socioeconomic status of African is therefore very difficult to alleviate by the implementation of school reforms alone (U.S. Census Bureau).
.
Black on Black Violence
Black on black violence has inspired several discussions concerning racial associations in America. The discussions have over time captured the attention of the victims of racisms and blacks as a whole. However, pressure is placed on the blacks by the systemic white racists who wonder why black on black violence by white police is of concern, while the blacks kill each other in their territories. Media has been very keen on propagating black crimes; this gives people the impression that crime is worse among the blacks than their white counterparts.
The American Dream
The American dream has been undermined greatly by racism. The dream demonstrates the desire of the American people to ensure a fairer, better and even a richer life for everybody regardless of their background, status and skin colour. Racism in the country, especially towards the blacks, has greatly undermined that dream. The European upper social classes have found it almost to interpret and many other individuals have lost hope and became so weary of it. The American dream is a dream whereby every individual, regardless of their ethnicity and race are entitled to hold positions which they are capable of handling and even qualified to handle, without a consideration of their positions or birth. The progress of the whites in America was founded on violence and even looting. As stated by Coates, the American dream is also the American failure. Coates believes that the American dream is only an artificial cover for the racism rot dominating the country.
The American dream has been influenced and characterised by very serious racial segregation mostly affecting the Africans and other blacks. Segregation which is based on ethnicity and skin colour, who are predominantly black. The racial segregation has therefore prevented many capable, qualified and talented blacks from gaining access to white spaces which are more eligible, institutions of power. From this particular notion, the presence of black in people in these corridors of powers is considered very assaulting to the upscale identity and safety of the whites. In most cases in the past, the intrusion of black children in the white's spaces led to the brutal physical punishment of the children. Moreover, the authorities did not come up to defend the justice of the black children, in the end, no one served a single jail term. This demonstrated how far racism is embedded in the human nature (Becker 130).
Coates, in his book, state that it is very likely that black children reside in low and emotionally destabilizing poor environments. The chances of the black people improving and moving away from these areas are very limited, due to the poor education they are offered in their black schools. Research conducted on the black families in segregated areas showed that those families continue to live there for generations, without ever having the hopes of leading normal lives. However, their white counterparts can move to better places due to their privilege of being born white. The evidence provided above, therefore, proves that the modern mode of imprisonment of the Africans is segregation. The lives they lead in these kinds of environments offer them little chances of improvement, therefore, alleviating the social pressure even more.
The Rise of the Black Power Movement
The black power movement was founded by community organizers, who intended it to be a socio-political media portfolio. Members of the BOLD association, agreed to the plan since they were extremely angered by the killing of a black boy, Trayvon Martin. The association responded on black violence and police brutality against the blacks. The movement motivated action, organization and fighting back by the blacks, as a freedom rights movement.
Works Cited
"JIM CROW STRIKES AGAIN: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESS CAMPAIGN AGAINST SEGREGATION IN BOWLING DURING WORLD WAR II". The Journal of African American History 97.3 (2012): 270-290. Web.
Becker, Anja. "Knowledge Is Power: Segregation, Education, And The (African) American Mind". Reviews in American History 39.1 (2011): 127-133. Web
U.S. Census Bureau (2014). People and households, housing vacancies and homeownership (CPS/HVS), Historical tables. Table 16: Homeownership rates by race and ethnicity of householder:1994 to present. Retrieved June 2, 2014, from http://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/histtabs.html
