Thursday, September 14, 2017

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. 

3 comments:

  1. I agree with not being able to relate to someone in this situation that much. That is one of the main reasons I picked this book.

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  2. Isn't it so crazy how different our perspectives are from Mr. Coates? I also have never felt that kind of fear just simply stepping out of my home. I can't even imagine it, and yet it saddens me that thousands of young men and women live in that reality everyday. It totally changes the fundamental basis of human interaction and I would not know how to handle it.

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  3. Good empathy and connection to Coate's experiences. I think he was trying to illustrate the privilege that some have when experiencing the more common things in life. I'm glad you're willing to empathize with his experiences and think through how they were/are different than yours

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