Between the world and me [LP]
Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a framework for understanding our nation's history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of "race," a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men -- bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, t...
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| Format: | Books Print Book Large Print |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Waterville, Maine :
Thorndike Press, a part of Gale Cengage Learning,
2016.
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| Edition: | Large print edition. |
| Subjects: | |
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Last Sunday the host of a popular news showasked me what it meant to lose my body. The host was in Washington, D.C., but Iwas seated in a remote studio on the far west side of Manhattan, one cordsnaking into my ear and another dangling down from my shirt. Someone hadapplied makeup to my face. When the host asked me about my body, her face fadedfrom the screen, and was replaced by a scroll of words, written by me earlierthat week. The host read these words for the audience,and when she finished she turned to the subject of my body. She did not mentionmy body specifically. But by now I am accustomed to intelligent people askingabout the condition of my body without realizing the nature of their request.Specifically, the host wished to know why I felt that white America's progress,or rather the progress of those Americans who believe in being white, was builton looting and violence. Hearing this, I felt an old and indistinct sadnesswell up in me. The answer to this question is the record of the believersthemselves. The answer is American history.
