"Between the World and Me"

We have officially started our first book entitled "Between the World and Me"!! Yaaayyee! I am so excited that you guys decided to embark upon this journey with me. I promise you will not regret it!

First things first, the book. I have gone through so many emotions just reading the first few pages of this book. Just a quick backdrop, this book is a letter from Ta-Nehisi Coates to his son, who he now feels is old enough to hear the "truths" of being a Black man in Amerikkka. Yes, I know how I spelled it! I have my reasons and this book definitely highlights some of those obvious reasons why white supremacy has completely taken over.

So, week one had us reading pages 1 through 38. My emotions went from anger to sadness. Then back to anger and disgust! I literally almost shed a tear when I read page 11 y'all, and I AM A THUG, you hear me! Thugs don't cry! This specific section of the book discussed the Michael Brown incident that occurred in 2014. He described the incident so vividly that I visualized the scene as I read each word on the page. I too remember this day. The grand jury took 25 days to decide whether or not to indict an officer who had gunned down 18-year-old Michael Brown in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. He was shot six times. On the night of November 24, the grand jury had reached a decision. NO INDICTMENT. The author described his son's reaction to this announcement and seeing his son dismiss himself to cry in his room. I could only imagine his pain.

We see this all too often. White cop shoots black man or woman UNJUSTIFIABLY...and there is absolutely no punishment. What does this say to our children? Our dads? Our brothers? This is one reason why we scream Black Lives Matter!

The author also discussed the punishment of Black children by their parents in an effort to protect them from the streets, or from the beatings of police. I think this is something all too common for Black children. I often wonder if Black parents have a handbook because I swear it seems like all or majority of Black children grow up the same way. We relate to the same funny stories, moments, and childhood memories. I remember listening to this podcast that shunned beating Black children. The host related the beatings of Black children to the beating of slaves and continuing a "slave-like mentality" by the continued use of "switches", belts, drop cords, or anything your mom could get a hold of. During slavery, parents were forced to harshly punish or beat their children to prevent the master from doing so. In a sense, I agree with this statement, however, what would society look like if children weren't punished for bad behavior? QTNA.

I wont drag this weeks blog out because the book is filled with so much more. I wanted to highlight these two portions of the book, and save the rest for next week and the meet up discussion. Oh and maybe we can continue this conversation on GroupMe!

Shoot me an email at Theeblackbookclub@gmail.com if you are interested in joining our GroupMe page!

That's all for now, peace! Stay Black and Beautiful Kings and Queens =)