Blog post #8

After class on Friday, I have been thinking about what we talked about regarding Between the World and Me and I think that Coates includes very specific concepts in order to get people talking about them. This may have contributed as to why he decided to include some controversial messages, such as the 9/11 remarks. Maybe this is so people would talk about it. I’m not saying that he does not actually feel this way, but I think that he included topics in this book for a particular reason, and this could be one of those specific reasons. Everyone always says, “never forget” when it comes to 9/11, but nobody says that when it comes to all the hardships that Black Americans have faced in the past and are currently still facing, which I find to be one of the main messages of the book. Although I do not completely agree with the point that Coates makes when regarding 9/11, I can see where he is coming from with certain aspects of his message. I think that a major component of his message is that people should be talking about it and not just disregarding it because even though 9/11 was a very important part in America’s history, so is the history of Black Americans that is often overlooked. Another point is that 9/11 was caused by an external force, and although that is extremely scary, the fact that racism against Black Americans is caused by internal forces within America, to me, that is even more scary. I can’t imagine having such a devastating family history and it not even being recognized and overlooked by other major events, even though this is a problem that has been going on for thousands of years and there has not been a definite solution. Even though we should not ever forget 9/11, we also should never forget the oppression that Black Americans have faced in the past and are currently still facing. 9/11 was one of the worst days in history, but there is not a lot that can be done for it now, except to never forget what happened and remember those who risked their lives to save others. The same thing can be said for the oppression of Black Americans in history, but there is more that can currently be done and I think that is the difference. There is still work that needs to be done that people in America have the ability to do in order to improve the current issues that Black Americans face on a day to day basis, unlike having the ability to change or improve what happened with 9/11.