Between the World and Me summary

Early on in his life Coates understood that much of the education he received in school was irrelevant to him. However, he did find some truth in the books he read outside of school. 

Reading Malcolm X and listening to his speeches was pivotal for Coates’s development; it exposed him to a reality that school did not. Malcolm X, the Black civil rights and human rights activist, didn’t sugarcoat the truth or advocate a platform amenable to the agendas offered by the white system. 

What constitutes the unbridgeable gap between white people and Black people in the US today? According to Coates, one undeniable fact is the reality of having a Black body.

In the United States, white bodies and Black bodies are treated fundamentally differently. White folks, however, are blind to this difference. 

The American Dream is the belief that anyone has an opportunity to succeed in America. This feel-good belief about life in America appears to be a universally positive thing. But the American Dream isn’t for everyone, as it relies on the continued subjugation of Black people. 

Racism didn’t end with the Emancipation Proclamation or the civil rights movement. Rather, it’s woven into the very fabric of America. The historical and continued subjugation of Black people is what has made and makes the American Dream possible.

The author recalls two different systems of fear while growing up: the streets he would traverse to get to school, go downtown, and come back home; and the schools, where he spent most of the day being taught information that did not pertain to him or his fellow students at all. 

For poor Black communities, the streets are a place where fear is rampant. To survive, people need to figure out some way to navigate the intricate labyrinth of the “law of the streets.” 

How do you prepare your children for realities you can’t protect them from? How do you prepare them for the fear and hate that people will inevitably feel toward them, without them losing hope in the world? 

For Coates’s son, a number of recent events have made the reality of life as a young Black man abundantly clear. 

As mentioned previously, the American Dream was built and sustained on the backs of Black people, first by slavery and then by an exclusionary racist society. Updating the Dream is not the way to change American society. Instead, society must abandon the myth altogether in order to become more inclusive and free. 

The American Dream is a white dream, completely blind to racial injustices, and the institutions that sustain the American Dream. The education system, the media, the authorities responsible for law and order – all are likewise blind to these injustices.