Ta-Nehisi Coates is a writer for the "The Atlantic". He is also a black man who was born, grown up, and now fathered a black son here in America. He has studied, he has read, he has lived this reality and he is able to put into powerful words what it means to be black in America, now and throughout history. Looking at how little the black life has been valued throughout our Nation's history, how little it is still valued. How the black body does not truly belong to the person who inhabits it as that person must always be mindful of how others would take it from them. That is a point that he comes back to throughout this work since from the time the African people were brought here to be slaves for the whites to today when the police can murder a black man with no cause and no consequences, this has been too true. Mr. Coates examines the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and others and shows how this is the result of centuries of oppression and devaluing of black lives. He is thoughtful, insightful, and passionate in his writing. As a white woman, there are many of his experiences that I have not lived through and admit that I cannot fully comprehend but I am trying to learn, to understand at least a little in how things work in our current environment and how to try and not be part of the problem so that with more understanding I can try and be part of the solution of true equality for all. We are so far from that and for so long I was too blind to see that. Thank you Mr. Coates for your writing and your teaching, for helping to open my eyes.
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