Esposito 1
Alessandro Esposito
12/2/16
Mrs. Uddin
AWR 101
Manifesto v. Between the World and Me
The African American struggle has always been looked at in many different ways.
Both Ta-Nehisi Coates and John Ridley see the African American man to have enormous
amounts of potential. But both have different perspectives when it comes down to
opportunities and the views black people have of their own and other communities.
Coates sees African American’s as people who are always on the losing end. He
constantly brings up the hardships they have gone through just to get to the point they are at
right now in history. The struggle of always being looked down upon by white people. If it
was not through slavery, then it was having to fight for equality. He talks about the struggle
of having to live on the streets and having to worry about other things rather than school like
the white kids did. Coates explains, “there were little white boys with complete collections
of football cards, and their only want was a popular girlfriend and their only worry was
poison oak” (20 Coates). In this quote, he talks about how instead of having to worry about
what street you are going to walk home that day, white kids could enjoy life and worry about
normal things.
He claims that black kids are not given the same benefits and opportunities that white
kids have. Black kids are placed into poverty where they have very little opportunities. The
Esposito 2
schools they attend are nothing compared to the ones that white people attend. The teachers
in black communities do not care about their students, teachers in white communities care
about all of their students giving them that academic edge. Coates says, “Fail to comprehend
the streets and you gave up your body now. But fail to comprehend the schools and you
gave up your body later” (25 Coates). He blames all of this on white people. They are the
reason why blacks have to constantly live in poverty. They are the reason why it is harder
for black people to make it out of poverty and do well for themselves. He sees racism as
something that will always affect black people and their lives. He believes that there is no
way to escape it and black people will always be at the bottom of the food chain.
In contrast, Ridley sees the black people as being capable of achieving anything they
