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Connection with 2 Books
Overview
The assessment of the two texts reveals critical similarities in the overall approaches adopted by the authors. This first section of the research will focus on the summary of each book and the underlying themes.
The book, so you want to talk about race by Ijeoma Oluo offers a critical and somewhat in-depth conversation on the issue of race and racism. The author takes the view of a black woman trying to survive in a white supremacist setting where prejudice and segregation are rife. The storyline is unique because the narrator while black is the daughter of a white single mother. For this reason, while the narrator is a middle –class and college-educated woman, the pressure of being born out of a single –parent setting and being black combine to set up a mesmerizing narration about her growing up and the lessons she gathered over time. The story raises fundamental questions about the state of racism in workplaces, in government and the neighborhoods. The book stands out because it seeks to address the issue of intersectionality when dealing with a myriad of identities including race. In the narration the author focus on social justice issues that affect African Americans and the extent to which race further impacts on other topics such as gender and sexuality.
On the other hand, the book Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates comes out as an engaging letter written by the author and directed to the son. In the letter, the author seeks to discuss a variety of critical issues around the subject of racism. Coates attempt to offer a broader view to the son on the symbolism, the feelings and the underlying realities that are associated with being African American in the age of hidden but deeply-enshrined racism.
Coates, therefore, offers the son a recoup of the troubled history that blacks have endured over the years based on his own experience of growing up poor and lacking the basics of life that would have provided a basis for overcoming the social injustices evident among the Black minorities. The author uses his friend’s story and the extents of discrimination in the narration as a basis on which to portray the uncertainties that African American societies endure. In the end, both books underline the degrees of oppression and concerns that African Americans regardless of social class or status that defines such individuals.
Integration of the Two Groups
The authors in the two books seem to have been reading from the same script in the course of writing the texts. In essence, while Coates addresses the son on a variety of social justice concerns, Oluo takes the approach of answering some of the common questions that emerge regarding the state of racism and segregation and racism. Observably, while Coates (9) address the concerns around the issue of racism from an American point of view, Oluo opt to discuss the context of racism from a vague point of view by refereeing to a white supremacist country. On both texts, however, the leading theme relates to the issue of racism and segregation of African Americans based on the assumption of inferiority. One of the critical elements of synthesis observed in the case refers to the reflection on racism right from the earliest stages of life where each narrator offers a background of growing up as black youth and the dynamics that surround such process of maturity.
One of the key quotes from the book by Ijeoma (161) is “if a person of color thinks it is, or if it “disproportionately or differently affects people of color.” Part of the problem here is that we can’t agree on a definition of racism. It’s something that we have to talk about.” In a nutshell, what the author is referring to is similar to the assertions made by Coates (81) in his letter. “You are growing into consciousness, and my wish for you is that you feel no need to constrict yourself to make other people comfortable.” The quotes address the same critical issue of prejudice and racism from different points of view. For instance, Coates tries to reveal to the son that the decision to try and hide his identity as an African American is giving into racism.
Perhaps, this is reflected in the case of Oluo who also notes that the most significant problem facing African Americans is the failure to accept their uniqueness as opposed to being apologetic about the color of their skin or the fact that they are inferior. “I couldn’t sit without patting my hair, and I couldn’t smile without worrying about how large my lips looked.” (Oluo, 164). In essence, this is the same argument that Coates makes, in both texts, it is clear that one of the greatest perpetrators of racism are the Blacks themselves because they allow the view of African Americans as inferior to permeate into their subconscious minds. The authors, however, confirm that racism affects persons of color regardless of their social status.
Works Cited
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. , 2015. Internet resource.Bottom of Form
Oluo, I. So You Want to Talk About Race. Seal Press, 2018. Internet resource.