My designated reading ,though was no surprise, is the Coates article. There was some bias given he is one of my favorite writers in the past ten years . But all of this is pointless to say . In this article Coates force people to see the realities of racism against the black community. He is not trying to get non-blacks to understand that racism is a bad thing. Instead his purpose is to show the reality of it. How it has evolved . But not only is he  presenting an uncut view of our community but he makes the point that racism can not be seen as a problem only for intecuals . Whose purpose with the issue is to source its origins and affects within different communities and among different races ; conduct forums and meetings ,all to simply prove its existence .”But all your phrasing -race relations, racial chasm,racial justice, ....-serves to obscure that racism is a visceral experience ,that dislodges brains,blocks airways ,rips muscle, extracts organs, cracks bones, breaks teeth. “It is very much a physical problem . And if turning it to a more child friendly approach allows understanding then continue with the forums and diverse group therapy meetings all you want ,but know you can’t hide in your books from the blood that is shed and the people that are lost through the violence.

 

This is him forcing us to look . Forcing other people to see the atrocities that my community can not look away from because it is our reality,

 

How a people they fear are also leaving in fear against them. He offers throughout the text both a broad and narrowed down origin of fear within the black community .

 

As far as limits for this text, I only see one . There is only so much you can write or say in order explain something to someone else you is in simple terms different from you . Language itself has limits and topics like racism prove those limits constantly. For example ,I always knew my people have been have gone through many trials and tribulations .However, it took me being alone in a kitchen at the age of eight and looking at an image of a black man lynched ,his beaten body and puffed up eyes . And I was terrified that someone was capable of doing that and I changed the channel because I didn’t want to see it .But I changed it back ,somehow I knew I needed to see this ,I needed to know that this was the world I was living in .”You must never look away from this.”

 

It is times like these that create impact . Coates would not be able to write something that cause the same reaction 10 years later . We need to know these limits and I believe Coates understood them as well.

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