Read Between the World and Me, pp. 73-108. Pay attention to Coates's understanding of the state's role in making black Americans vulnerable to physical harm and, separately, his understanding of American history.
Here is the question you will write about in class. Feel free to respond to it at home, if you prefer:
Consider Coates discussion of the "below" (pp. 104-105), the following passage in particular: "You and I, my son, are that 'below.' That was true in 1776. It is true today. There is no them without you, and without the right to break you they must necessarily fall from the mountain, lose their divinity, and tumble out of the Dream. And they would have to determine how to build their suburbs on something other than human bones, how to angle their jails toward something other than a human stockyard, how to erect a democracy independent of cannibalism" (p. 105). Is Coates right about the "below"? Explain the ways Coates succeeds or fails to persuade the reader with his discussion of this metaphor.
Lastly (and optionally), here are a few readings from The New York Times that are related to the issues raised by Coates's book:
Anti-Semitic Posts Surge on Twitter
"Only White People," Said the Little Girl
An Open Letter to the Woman Who Told My Family to Go Back to China
'Go Back to China': Readers Respond to Racist Insults Shouted at a New York Times Editor
