I believed in hope and in someone who worked hard to be able to overcome just about any situation. While this may have some truth over time, I had no choice but to look at things as they are and what I could realistically do to overcome them. No amount of hope or hard work helped in that moment and never will. It’s something I had to accept and to this day it’s still a heavy weight on my shoulders that I can’t escape. Learning to manage it and live with it on a daily basis is really difficult. It's just about being able to understand it from a logical point of view and realizing that sometimes some things are beyond your control. You just need to accept certain situations as they are and hopefully reach a stage where you accept it all for the sake of your own mental health. It's a similar process Ta-Nehisi Coates had to go through to find answers to all his questions and be a go-to guide for his son in hopes of helping him navigate life as a black man. His version of the Dream means reaching a place in which you find comfort, a place where you feel like you truly belong and can freely be yourself. This is important because it teaches us that the fear black people feel is greater than most of us. It is with wise words that Coates makes us discover his and his people's truths as well as their fears. This teaches us that unfortunately their story and its effects have carried over into daily incidents and the way he manages his life in search of the Dream. Ta-Nehisi Coates depicts through imagery and his wise words the strength of this argument through ethos and pathos. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The dream Ta-Nehisi Coates describes is of a “perfect” life primarily white-led and white-based. This is one of the ways I began to understand the truth about someone from similar circumstances to mine, compared to my whiter-skinned classmates when a class exercise was done. Coates says, “I’ve seen this dream all my life. They are perfect houses with beautiful lawns. These are Memorial Day barbecues, neighborhood associations and driveways. The dream is treehouses and Cub Scouts. The Dream smells like peppermint, but tastes like strawberry shortcake.” Basically, the Dream is life consisting of materialistic things such as houses, lawns, and suburban living, with people who are fundamentally serene due to their chosen ignorance of such racism and the hardships of those in it. outside their world. This statement is reinforced by the use of pathos. The majority of people capable of the Dream before his eyes are those of white origin because they do not have to worry about racism or biased judgment because of their color. Once again, the class activity on obstacles in life was a real eye-opener for me. Compared to others, myself and another classmate only got 3 points "advantage", which says a lot. The majority of those who had the highest number of advantage points were the white children in the class, because thanks to their parents they have a greater chance of succeeding in life. Their work ethic matters, but in all honesty it is well known that those of white color tend to have more resources and help in their lives because the color white has always been placed on a pedestal associated with power and successall over the United States. history. Just as the effects of African American history still play a role in the lives of many African Americans, so does white history. This is confirmed by the following words of Coates: “I didn't understand it until I looked on the street...white parents...their sons were commanding entire sidewalks with their tricycles. The galaxy was theirs, and as terror was communicated to our children, I saw mastery communicated to theirs." In addition to being more privileged and not having to constantly worry about the struggles he and his people face faced in their daily lives, he understood that they were not the same and would probably never reach that point of equality due to extremely different circumstances. Here Coates uses his words strongly using pathos to show the intensity and depth with which this realization hit him and increased his fear, not for himself, but for what his son will face and realize for himself at some point. with time. The reality of what Coates discovered while learning new things about his culture made him realize the truth of his and his people's dream versus that of a white person. It will be more difficult to achieve this and the chances of succeeding in life will be higher. That's what it looks like and it's stuck even more when Coates mentions that Prince Jones was killed "by accident" in a case of mistaken identity. A large majority of detained African Americans tend to have more vigilant police officers because of their color. In an old television interview, a police officer was once asked how he would approach a gray Mercedes when a white man in a suit was in it. He said he would approach him like anyone, calmly, then ask for a license and registration, basic protocol, but when asked the exact same question and the white man was replaced by a black man, he adjusted his posture a little more and nonchalantly. said he would approach with one hand on his gun because "you never know what they might have on them." -unknown. The extreme consequences of racism have caused many biased incidents, like this, towards people of darker skin tones and resulted in the loss of many lives. The fact that they can see beyond the “happy” representation of things and see them as they are is something necessary for their survival. Coates depicts a choice moment of ignorance on the part of a white reporter with this incident: “…the host showed a widely shared photo of an eleven-year-old black boy tearfully hugging a white police officer. Then she asked me about “hope.” And I knew I had failed. And I remembered that I expected to fail.” At that moment, he realized that the reason many cannot see things as they are is because they choose to ignore the facts and look the other way. They choose to see images like this to sugarcoat all the various injustices done to the black community rather than being realistic and accepting that regardless of that image, racism is alive and well. A moment like this is not the solution to everything. He effectively uses both ethos and a lot of pathos to express his loss and confusion as to why the majority of these people don't want to see things the way they are. Ta-Nehisi Coates' version of the dream is not as materialistic as those depicted outside of his thoughts. He ends up realizing that this dream is not just about a house or a well-mowed green lawn. ThereCoates' version of the dream is to be a free man, a free person, without fear of being targeted. His dream is to become aware and to be able to feel safe in his body. Being happy in his skin and not being afraid to be himself while keeping in mind that, yes, he and anyone of his skin tone may never feel so safe, so at home. comfortable, as privileged as the white race, but being able to get through life in a way that will keep him satisfied and fulfilled while having to worry about his body much more than others. “It was a moment, a moment of joy, beyond a dream... more magnificent than any voting rights bill... We did something here. We took the one-drop rules from Dreamers and turned them around. They made us a race. We have become people. (Coates 149), it is at this moment that he realizes that his people's dream has much more to offer, even if the white people's dream sometimes depends on the ruin of theirs. Coates cherishes the good he has discovered and advises his son to do the same with a conscious mindset. Ta-Nehisi uses pathos through this discovery, causing him a moment of pride, contentment, excellence and resilience all in one. A moment in which he and all the other African Americans at his university created and lived in the same moment. This may be difficult for white Americans to accept, only because they will never have as much knowledge about what black people do. through. They have not had to worry as much as a black man about the possibility of rising and prospering throughout their lives, because they have always been superior since the beginning of the conquest of lands which they call now “their” America. They may be able to see past some things, but nothing will ever compare to an experience that has nothing to do with their own experience. For example, all they can see in a black person living in the ghettos is that they are "lazy" or something like that and blame that as the reason they are not successful when 'in reality they need to learn to see things and the bigger picture. There can always be many more circumstances as to why a person of color can be where they are and understand that the majority does not have the same advantages as them. In these scenarios they like to see beyond the color when in reality it is the color they should see with empathy and proper reasoning to understand why they are the way they are and go through their life then compare it to the their. Two different worlds. Worlds that they have no right to judge nor the people who compose them because they know nothing about them. Someone can tell them about their experience and familiarize them with their world, but ultimately it's not valid enough for them to feel entitled to pass judgment on it. Coates also previously mentioned that it was a choice to ignore such things as the incidents caused daily and repeatedly to his people over something as small as a photo of a black boy and a white police officer. There was an interview with an artist named Lil Wayne. He spoke of a suicide attempt when he was younger and how a white police officer was the only one who ran straight toward him while the other officers, both colored and white, continued to search the house at night. drug search. Because of this experience, he was asked if he believed in racism or if he thought racism was still alive in the world, which fit well with what Coates mentioned about selective ignorance. He replied that there was no racism through his eyes, but.