I want to start by saying this post is going to a million directions because so is my brain, here it goes:

Let’s see about the “American Dream.” Growing up, I’ve always been taught that by working hard, you can accomplish anything. Coates does a wonderful job of pointing out in “Between the world and me” that life is anything but an even playing field. (As did the Ferguson documentary we watched in class on Thursday). We need to squash the myth that is the American Dream, because it is the exception not the rule. (Yes that was a He’s Just Not That Into You reference). But the concept of it is prevalent. We listen to stories of people finding their soul mate at a bar, while all my friends have never met anyone worth mentioning. But we romanticize the idea that the possibility is out there, “if so-and-so met him, I could too.” Paralleling that, while there are, no doubt, people who started with nothing and made something out of it- this is a rarity. American politics have made it close to impossible to break out of the class that you are born into. Politics equals power and the powerful call the shots.

Segway to the amount of power police have in our nation…

“The truth is that the police reflect America in all of its will and fear, and whatever we might make of this country’s criminal justice policy, it cannot be said that it was imposed by a repressive minority” (Coates 77). After viewing the Ferguson documentary in class, I really started to wonder just how much power should be entrusted to the police. In class we discussed the discussion that many black parents engage their children in, to protect themselves from seemingly inevitable police brutality. My discussions with my parents went just ever-so-slightly different: “police are there to help you” … “if you are ever in an emergency find a police officer” … “if you are pulled over, use ‘yes mam’ or ‘yes sir’ and you will be fine.” I trusted my high school’s resource officer. Coates speaks for those that do not have this luxury. Instead when they are shot and killed for selling a carton of cigarettes, or for no reason whatsoever, they are met with criticism. Even I’ve fallen into the trap of “they should have regarded the officers with more respect, if they had only complied maybe the outcome would have been different.” I am ashamed of this type of thinking because it is almost as if it was programmed into me. I have been taught that by simply showing some respect, you will be able to maneuver a bad situation involving police- but this isn’t the case.

“’White America’ is a syndicate arrayed to protect its exclusive power to dominate and control our bodies. Sometimes this power is direct (lynching), and sometimes it is insidious (redlining). But however it appears, the power of domination and exclusion is central to the belief in being white, and without it, “white people” would cease to exist for want of reason” (Coates, 40). I found this to be extremely powerful. Especially after talking in class about how far back this oppression traces. One thing from the film in class that stuck out to me was the man who said he already knew the outcome of Michael Brown’s case. It reminded me of Emmett Till’s mother, who left the court before the verdict was read- because she knew what the outcome would be. There is no justice for blacks in America- there never really has been.