Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

I don't but I might be grouped in the people called "Dreamers" by Coates in this letter to his 15 year old son which may have been sparked by his son's reaction to the death of Michael Brown.

However, I didn't grow up privileged (well privileged outside the fact that I have "white skin"). I grew up in an abusive home in New York City Public Housing in Brooklyn NY, a.k.a. The Projects. My bridge between the two worlds that Coates writes about in not just where I or how I grew up but that my oldest child is a young black man. When he was little he was cloaked in the protection my skin offered him. But now he is on his own in a place where I am not known to those around him. When he walks down the street there is nothing to identify him as the child not only of a black man but of a white woman. So when it is dark and he is walking down the street do people cross afraid of him? Do women in elevators with him hold their purses closer and tighter because they only see his skin and know nothing of the sweet little pre-school child who broke his mother's heart when he told her he couldn't marry her when he grew up because he was going to marry the little girl in his class? Do police officers see him as a threat because he wears a hoodie or looks like the vague description of a criminal because of his shared skin color but no other similarity?

Coates writes to his son what it was like growing up in a black body in West Baltimore. How he has always had this fear deep in his bones that his skin would cause his death or destruction.

While this is raw and painful it is an important read for all people of all shades. If you are unable to relate to his fear or upbringing and so the current outcry over the deaths of young men at the hands of police or by supposedly well meaning neighborhood watchers is hard for you to fully comprehend then you need to read this. If you feel dirty and shamed than you are getting it. But I don't think Coates wants to shame you, I think he wants you to understand. Because with understanding comes change. If you do relate than you will find you are not alone. Where ever you are and who ever you are, this book will leave you feeling the love of this man for his son and a sadness over the fear and anger. I hope it will move you and open your eyes.

(finished December 31, 2015)