Between the World and Me

Beeindruckendes Buch und war sehr bewegend. Da will ich noch mehr recherchieren.

Rapsodischer Tonfall, sermonartiger und unstrukturierter Bewußtseinsstrom. Wütend, anklagend, repetitiv. Penetrante Selbstgerechtigkeit, die dem Autor während seiner Studentenzeit von einer Professorin klargemacht wird, freilich nur mit geringem Erfolg. Ich habe mir (leider nur) die letzten 40 Seiten des ersten Teils erspart (den zweiten Teil hatte ich bereits in einem anderen - besseren - Buch des Autors gelesen).

This has come out five years ago and has only become painfully more relevant ever since. The book is an essayistic letter from father to son. Sometimes an explanation, sometimes a warning, sometimes an urgent wish and through all of it deep understanding about shared pain. I felt almost like an intruder on a deeply personal, honest and raw parent-child exchange. Those qualities are what makes this captivating and impactful. Mind you, this was certainly not written for white audiences, but that makes it all the more important to read as a white person, because it doesn't hold back and we need to hear it all and take it to heart. Coates established vocabulary that gives me much food for thought (like 'a person who paints themselves white' or his use of/context for what is 'the Dream'), he puts strong focus on the body, the physicality, the corporeality of the Struggle and he expertly adapts his language to expose the concept of race as the artificial, made-by-whites category that it is. I urge you to read it.