Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me is a powerful meditation on race in America. Author Ta-Nehisi Coates shares what it was like for him growing up in America where the color of his skin makes him more vulnerable to violence and death. Written as a letter to his teenage son, it exposes truths that many have denied and avoided. Throughout the book Mr. Coates shares personal stories that reveal how his thinking about being black in America has evolved during his life.

We learn about growing up in the violent Baltimore of the 1970s and 1980s. His mother was a teacher and his father was a librarian and publisher. We learn about how he met his wife, and his years at Howard University. But what stands out most are the wrenching personal stories such as how his friend Prince Jones, an outstanding student and born-again Christian, was shot and killed by police. Or the time he was traveling and a white woman pushed his four-year-old son out of the way in an airport because he was walking too slowly. When he rebuked the woman for pushing his son, bystanders acted like he was the one in the wrong. The anger and even rage that episodes like those invoke are completely understandable, as is the ceaseless feeling of vulnerability and hopelessness.

Mr. Coates' book is wide-ranging, discussing history, current events, personal stories, and much more. It's a short and well-written book, but it's painful to read, realizing how much we need to do to make things better for everyone, not just white people (or as Mr. Coates would say "people who think they are white"). Reading this book in the current political climate is even more painful, with so many bigots and racists being given so much attention on the news every day. He ends the book by encouraging his son to continue to struggle, but not to change white people who have to learn to change themselves. It's not a very hopeful ending, but perhaps more realistic. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand more about the forces and feelings that shape our country.

Ta-Nehisi Coates. Between the World and Me. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015. 156 pages. ISBN 9780812993547. Advance Reader's Edition.