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Eric

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Eric is Currently Reading

Eric is currently reading

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

by Beverly Daniel Tatum

bookshelves: currently-reading, african-american-writers, nonfiction

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(page 83 of 464)
— Jan 27, 2026 09:29PM

Jan 26, 2026 10:55PM

Eric is currently reading

Between the World and Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

bookshelves: second-reading, african-american-writers, nonfiction, currently-reading

Reading for the 15th time

read in October 2016

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Eric said: " Written as a letter to his teenage son, Samori, Coates has written an honest, poignant, and artful book that is a personal yet intellectually challenging book that exposes the American system of racism in all of its forms, and articulates how racism Written as a letter to his teenage son, Samori, Coates has written an honest, poignant, and artful book that is a personal yet intellectually challenging book that exposes the American system of racism in all of its forms, and articulates how racism impinges constantly on the lives of Black people. There is no wasted word in this book. Each word is weighted. For most black readers, the book is a reflection in the mirror. For most white readers, this book will cause you to re-assess what the American Dream means and how racially skewed it is. This is a book that should be constantly referred to.

This is my second reading, and this reading caused more reflection upon how deep Coates drew from the thought of Baldwin, Ellison, and Wright. Coates' analysis is just as sharp as Baldwin's Fire Next Time, his ability to capture the inability of Black people to save themselves in this system that entraps them hearkens back to Wright's Native Son, and his distrust that whites can be drawn out of the slumber of the Dream by Blacks is seemingly an allusion to Ellison's Invisible Man. As I wrote in the above paragraph a few months ago, this text deserves cogent analysis. Do recognize that this book stands in the same intellectual tradition of the above mentioned Black intellectuals.

This is now my third reading, and I recognized how Coates anchors this book in the death of Prince Jones as a parable of the hard situation Blacks find themselves in. The Dream can ultimately kill them indiscriminately only because blackness as a negative social distinction has been imposed upon them and is liable to be extinguished.

Just finished my fourth reading. Still, deep. Still, relevant. First time teaching his book in my African American history course. What stands out this time is Coates’ point against the innocence of race as a concept. Coates argues vehemently that racism strikes the black body; its manifestation in America is violence against Black people in every period of its history.

Wow! I’ve now read this book five times!! Still, excellent! It’s still instrumental in my Black Lives Still Matter course!

I just completed my eight reading of this book, and gets better and better. It's a great book because Coates is so trenchant in plumbing the realities of African Americans, and because it is so, so relevant. As I neared the end this time, I thought, "How many of my white Christian brothers and sisters have read this book?" This books should bring so much understanding about the plight of African Americans not as African Americans who live in certain areas of town, or go to certain schools but African Americans who Christians as well. This country gives no quarter to Black folk because they are Christians. This is the lesson of Prince Jones, and the lesson drawn from the lot of us.

Ninth reading, and I never tire. This book still hits me. I’m still so amazed how similar I am to Coates. I’m older and grew up in another urban village, but our experiences are comparable. Our thought patterns eerily the same. This speaks both of a general African American culture but also of the plunder Coates refers to so often in this book.

This is my tenth reading of this book. I'm teaching it for my African American history course at our Handlon Campus, which is housed in a state prison. I'm excited about this as about half of the class consists of incarcerated African American men. I believe this book "hits different" for Black men in prison. I never tire of reading this book. My hope is that everyone, and I mean everyone will pick up and read this book slowly chewing every word.

Fourteenth reading done! ...more "

progress:

(page 73 of 152)
— Jan 31, 2026 08:09PM

May 19, 2025 08:50PM · see review