Brief: Second part of Ta-Nehisi Coates: Between the World and Me.

The second Part of Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me opens with him discussing a topic that is all too well-known at this time, Police abusing their power, and the relationship between Police officers and African Americans. It’s not very often I read a book that is discussing events that are happening now. You read books that take place 50- 100 years ago and you can only imagine what it might have been like. It’s because of this that Ta-Nehisi Coates discussion on Police comes off as nothing less than terrifying. Not terrifying in the sense of monsters or ghosts, this is not a H.P. Lovecraft kind of scary, it’s a “This is real and is happening now kind of scary”. Obviously cops abusing their powers, especially when concerning African Americans is not anything new, we have all seen the pictures from the 60’s that show just that. But this is not the 60’s or the 70’s its 2016 and the fact that this is still happening is what makes the reading terrifying. Coates list off several people who suffered or died at the hands of police, and again it’s just scary. He’s not listing off one, or two he lists off several, to the point where you don’t want to read anymore. It got to the point where I had to put down the book and give myself a second before continuing. The way Coates grabs your attention and forces you to look at the events that have taken place over the past few years between police officers and African Americans is something that is difficult to describe, it’s as if a hand is hovering above and if you try to look away it will turn your head back to the book, forcing you to read on.