Assignment:
Write a three page critical essay answering one of the questions provided below based on Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. In your answer provide at least three (3) citations from the book that supports your position on the selected question.
1. Coates identifies race in the United States as a social construct that has its origins in a history of violence and oppression. Why do you think this conception of race is not universally accepted? Who defines race in America? How do racial boundaries and categories benefit some people and harm others? Does race play a role in determining who has political power, economic privilege, and social benefits? Have social influences such as race, power, and privilege played a role in shaping your own personal identity?
2. Coates writes, “in America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage.” What does Coates share about the varied narratives of slavery, the Civil War, and the civil rights movement? Who shapes these narratives? In your own education, were you taught a “comfortable narrative” about race, slavery, and the historical oppression of black people? How does this oppression continue to persist as structural and institutional racism today? How can individuals and communities resist this type of racism?
Your answer must be in 3 pages, typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman font (size 12), one-inch margins on all sides, APA format.