Here is the question you will write about in class. Feel free to respond to it at home, if you prefer; you will still have time to write it in class. If you write this at home, you shouldn't spend more than twenty minutes working on it:
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.
For Tuesday (Day 5) and Wednesday (Day 6): Finish reading Between the World and Me (pp.108-152). If you get through it quickly (say, forty-five minutes or so), also work on the action plan at home.
Here is the question you'll write about in class. Feel free to respond to it at home, but you will have time to write it in class. If you do this at home, you shouldn't spend more than twenty minutes working on it:
In several respects, Between the World and Me charts Coates individual development in relation to the ways race (or "racecraft") works in the United States. How does Coates's perspective change over the course of the book? What remains the same? What does he most want his son (or the reader) to take away from his reflections on race? (Keep in mind, given the length of the response and the time limits imposed on it, you should only devote a few sentences--including quotes--to each question.)
