Blog #6

The story of Prince is so unsettling. It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that this is the world that we live in. He was surrounded with the best opportunities that he could have through his parents, and yet there was still nothing they could do to control his death. I know that Coates isn't the only one who has experiences this because we see stories of racist violence in the news all the time. I feel thankful that I get to have to chances and privileges that I do. But, something about living in a world where this happens makes me feel guilty.

I have questioned many times why I got to be so blessed. There was never a time that I came home and didn't have food to eat. There was never a time that I didn't have proper clothes to wear. I don't ever remember my parents being super stressed about supporting our family. I had two amazing parents that loved and cared for me. I never faced any obvious discrimination. Why did I get so blessed? Why couldn't Coates be as blessed as I am? 

As Coates seeks to wrap up his letter to his son, I sense Coates just coming to the reality to the things of his life and his sons life. He doesn't ever try to sugar coat things to be better than what they are. By the end of the book, I feel like he just accepts these things as the reality of the world that he lives in. I start to wonder if Coates was just challenged to think when enough was enough. One can only fight and remain angry with how they have to live for long. I am just reminded of the broken world that we live in that people like Coates have to just accept the injustice as reality. 

Blog #5

As a Father, I can imagine you want nothing but the best for your children. I think God designed many parents with that desire to be a protector. In this section of the book, Coates tells about how he doesn't want his son to experience all the hard things in life as a black person. Although this may happen, Coates wrestles with finding his role as a father in training his son in how to best respond to the racism he will face. 

When he tells the story of how a young boy was killed from simply having a disagreement with a white man, I was shocked. I immediately thought of all the disagreements I have had with different people in my life. I don't think I ever thought about having to fear my life. The cool part in this story was the mother. I don't know what it's like to be a mother, but I have three younger sister, and I feel very protective of them. This mother had every right to get angry and seek revenge, and yet she didn't. 

This makes me admire those that are strong in their faith. I can't say that I lost anyone very close to me. I have had an easy and good life. It is easy to have faith when things are easy. I appreciate those who can't remain faithful even through something as horrible as this women had to go through. As it challenges me, we are able to see it challenging Coates as well as he gets envious of her strength. 

Blog #4

The beginning of this section in reading Coates explains an experience he has with the police. He was driving and was pulled over for no reason that he could tell. The police in this county were known to be brutal. Coates explained how he just sat there at the will of these police officers. He sat there afraid because he was helpless. There was obviously no other reason that he was pulled over besides his skin color.

I can't imagine having that be the case for me. I have been pulled over a couple times (no ticket yet ;)), but all for reasons that I could understand. I understood why and deserved it. My break light was out, and I was going a couple miles to many over the speed limit. I was not pulled over because my eyes were blue or because I had blonde hair or because my skin color was white.

Coming to college one of my favorite things was getting a fresh start. Nobody knew my past, and everyone could create their own image and opinion about me. What if I came to college and was treated so poorly because I reminded everybody of another white blonde girl that they hated? Nothing I did made that opinion of me only the fact that I reminded them of that one girl. That is often times the way people of color feel. I will never fully understand what that is like, but imagining that makes my heart ache for them.

Blog #3

Throughout this whole book there has been an overarching theme for Coates on what it truly means to wear the color black on your skin. I saw this theme especially in this part of his story. There was one quote that stuck out to me the most within this section. Coates writes, "perhaps being named 'black' was just someone's name for being at the bottom..." The fact he feels this way or anybody feels this way about their skin color makes me so sad. It is hard for me to empathize with these people because I have never had any other color of skin besides white. 

Why did God give me the opportunities I have over someone else? Why was the way I lived my normal? I tend to ask those question a lot as I read through this book. Toward the middle of this book Coates also starts asking those questions of, "why me?" It is easy for me as a Christian to simply say, "It's all part of God's plan." I've had it easy. As I start to hear more and more and understand what it might be like to live their lives, I don't blame them for being angry. If I was them, I can't imagine wanting to hear that God put me where he did on purpose. 

Coates writes to his son and tells it like it is. He is aware and doesn't try to sugar coat how his life will look differently. It makes me sick to think that he has to tell his son, "There is no promise that is unbreakable." Coates explains to his son that the law and people will try to persuade him otherwise, but because his skin color isn't be white, things will be different. 

Blog #2

I love the power of story. By simply listening to someone else's story, you are better able to understand. As I get older and hear more and more stories, I have learned to humble myself because a lot of times I can't even seem to understand how they feel.

Reading Ta-Nehisi Coates story, I am feeling very humbled in the fact that there are a lot of things that go on that are bigger than I am. As a white person, I may not have actively discriminated or intentionally put down those of color, but even being unaware of it happening all around me makes me feel guilty. I went through history classes all throughout my life learning about these figures not even giving a thought to how it made people of color feel that all these figures were all white. I haven't really thought either of Coates opinion of his way being paved by a white person.

How can we change that? Is the teaching of history in schools a part of where this stems from? Despite all of these things happening around us, how do we as Christians rise above and choose to love?

Blog #1

Ta-Nehisi Coates attempts to explain the unexplainable to his son. How do you tell your son, who only sees the good in the world through his innocent eyes, that he will be treated differently over something that he has no control of? I grew up in a small town, and we never had any sort of crime. I can't seem to wrap my mind around the idea of stepping outside and constantly being in fear. My parents were protective of what I did, but they never truly feared for my life. Just getting a taste of how he felt was alarmingly different then the way that I was raised. 

A section in the first part of this book was when he talked about how he developed a new language to protect himself opened my eyes. Because of the culture that he was brought up, he had to be so cautious of what he said. Just simply asking to see someone's bike was taken as he was starting a fight. Using the example of Treyvon Martin, he explains the danger of simply growing up as a young black man. My heart hurts for those who constantly feel like they have to defend themselves from the world around them. 

As a Christian, I wish our human eyes could see how God views his children. Before people become so quick to judge, I wish they would take into thought how precious that person is in the Lord's eyes.