Between the World and Me (One World Essentials)

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

I never wanted you to be twice as good as them, so much as I have always wanted you to attack every day of your brief bright life in struggle. The people who must believe they are white can never be your measuring stick. I would not have you descend into your own dream. I would have you be a conscious citizen of this terrible and beautiful world.

I wanted you to have your own life, apart from fear—even apart from me. I am wounded. I am marked by old codes,