Book Review: The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
In the introduction, Ta-Nehisi Coates clarifies that he is addressing his latest book The Message specifically to his students and more generally to “young writers everywhere whose task is nothing less than doing their part to save the world.” I’m far from being a young writer, but Coates’s words resonate with me. He writes thoughtfully, precisely, and honestly, with courage and a commitment to truth, and he inspires me to want to do the same.
Ostensibly, the book is an account of his travels to three different locations: Senegal, South Carolina, and Palestine. However, it is far from being a travelogue. Instead, Coates uses the fresh perspective he obtains from journeying to these places to offer incisive commentary on the horrors of slavery, the lingering perils of white supremacy, colonialism, inequalities in modern American society, the importance of teaching, the power of language, the value of writing, and other topics.
His trip to Senegal is his first journey to Africa, and he writes of the inversion of awareness caused by being on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean. His description of the visit is moody and contemplative, and he draws conclusions that are difficult to summarize and must be read directly. He presents his thoughts with such precision that a summary cannot do them justice. Throughout his narrative he takes pains to clarify to his readers, the writers he is addressing, that it is their responsibility to do the same, that is, to write with honesty and integrity.
Part two opens with a long treatise on teaching and on the importance of “safe spaces” where students can feel secure as they conduct their investigations into the nature of truth. This security is jeopardized when politicians pass laws to ban books that would threaten the status quo and cause white students to feel guilty or remorseful about their ancestors’ cruel treatment of their fellow humans. This introduction leads into the reason that Coates went to South Carolina. A teacher named Mary Wood had been using his book Between the World and Me in her advanced placement lessons, and the school board was trying to get the book banned because it might make some students “feel uncomfortable” and “ashamed of being Caucasian.” This was a result of the executive branch of the government at that time coming out against “critical race theory.” The school board argued that Coates’s appraisal of “systemic racism” in the book was illegal. Coates got in touch with Woods and offered to join her at the school board meeting on this subject. When word got out about the meeting, a multitude of people turned up to support Woods. In fact, everyone who spoke there was against banning the book. Coates clarifies that “this is not about me or any writer of the moment. It is about writers to come – the boundaries of their imagination, the angle of their thinking, the depth of their questions.” Inquiring minds need the freedom to explore fresh and unique ideas in books. He offers a personal example: “I was saved by the books in my house, by the implicit message that learning does not belong exclusively in schools.” The rewriting of history and the banning of books, according to Coates, can kill the future.
In the third and longest section of The Message, Coates writes of his journey to Palestine. It begins with an account of his visit to Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, which he actually made on the last day of his trip. From this he launches into a description of the impressions he formed during his visit, when he was alternately led from place to place by Jewish and Palestinian guides. He explains that in his essay “The Case for Reparations” he had used Germany’s reparations to Israel as a model, but the more he explored the land and got to know its people and its history, he realized that comparison might have been a mistake. He writes: “I was there for ten days, ten days in this Holy Land of barbed wire, settlers, and outrageous guns. And every day I was there, I had a moment of profound despair.” But his mandate as a writer – to seek the truth – caused him to keep going.
As with Coates’s account of his trip to Senegal, his observations are complex, layer upon layer of arguments, and it is difficult to summarize them. Read the book. He concludes the book by emphasizing the importance of writing, which “is transformed into a ‘spiritual advantage,’ putting in the hands of the oppressed ‘the conditions of a classical art,’ which is to say the power to haunt people, to move people, and expand the brackets of humanity.” He points out the lack of work published by Palestinian writers, and adds that “if Palestinians are to be truly seen, it will be through stories woven by their own hands.” This applies, of course, to any person or group who needs to have their voices heard.
All in all, as with other books by Coates I have read such as Between the World and Me and We Were Eight Years in Power, The Message is thoughtful, well-written, and important. Highly recommended.
