Slaves, people who are completely subservient to a dominating influence, in America, are usually African-American and are generally mistreated and tortured. The book, “Between the World and Me” by Coates, an American author and educator, discourses about certain issues African-Americans faced because of their race to his son Samori Coates. He wanted his son to know that “in America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage” (Coates 103), so he’d be cautious about his actions around whites that way he wouldn’t have his body destroyed, however, he still wanted him to be himself and not allow others to influence his decisions. Coates, in the book, uses plenty of emotional appeal; pathos, logical arguments; logos, and ethical arguments; ethos, to show his point of view upon slavery in America. These are all means of persuasion, his goal was to open our eyes and make us realize the inequality African-Americans faced.
African-Americans, according to the information provided by Ta-Nehisi Coates, are treated like slaves by whites. They have to do, act, and feel whatever whites want them to and they have to worry about every single action they make in order to keep their bodies from being destroyed. If they protest or “resent the people trying to entrap their body it can be destroyed. Turn into a dark stairwell and your body can be destroyed” (Coates 9), it does not matter if the destruction of your body is the result of an unfortunate overreaction nothing will be done to secure justice over your dead body. Since the right of freedom of speech was not accessible to those of black skin, their rights seemed to be disregarded or non-existent and “all of this is common to black people… all of this is old for black people” (Coates 9). Whites don’t view their actions toward African-Americans as a hateful crime, instead, they believe they’re just “enforcing the whims of our country, correctly interpreting its heritage and legacy” (Coates 10), however, they are wrong.
In pages 9-10, of the book, Coates uses logos this is because of the vast majority of examples of African-American people whose bodies were destroyed due to minor crimes or misunderstandings. For example, John Crawford, he was murdered for browsing in a department store or Eric Garner, who was choked to death for selling cigarettes, including Renisha McBride who was shot down for seeking help. They all have one thing in common, they’re all African-Americans whose bodies were destroyed for a misunderstanding or a low level crime. “The destroyers will rarely be held accountable” (Coates 9), even to this day whites are still mistreating and destroying black bodies yet their crimes aren’t viewed as something major since it’s happening to a minority.
America considers itself as exceptional and as “the greatest and noblest nation to ever exist” (Coates 8), yet it denies minorities the right to secure and govern their own bodies. African-Americans have been enslaved in this country longer than they have been free, “never forget that for 250 years black people were born into chains—whole generations followed by more generations who knew nothing but chains” (Coates 70). Coates’ views upon slavery is negative and serious, since he sees an enslaved women with an active mind and with a range of feeling as vast as his sons, similar to the mind of anyone else of any other race. It’s serious and negative to him because he dislikes the idea of people being enslaved especially since he views everyone as equal to each other. This would be an example of pathos being used since this appeals to one’s emotions, his emotions.
An ethical appeal in the book is Coates relating to himself so the audience, the people reading the book, can believe and trust him. He gains trust by connecting his past to show that he has dealt with racism in the streets, the same way African-Americans have dealt with racism and injustice throughout their whole life, today, and during Ta-Nehisi’s lifetime. He also, provides historical evidence that proves racism has been around for a long time and will continue to be about. According to the great South Carolina senator, John C.Calhoun, “The two great divisions of society are not the rich and the poor, but white and black” (Coates 104), since the whites massacred and enslaved vast of the majority of the African-American race in history.
In conclusion, Coates uses all the rhetorical appeals: ethos, logos and pathos in the book to point out that racism is still a massive issue in America and will continue to be. He states that racism not only has had an impact on his life but in other African-Americans as well. He also, in the book, transfers some advice to his son, “you must wake up every morning knowing that no promise is unbreakable, least of all the promise of waking up at all. This is not despair. These are the preferences of the universe itself: verbs over nouns, actions over states, struggle over hope” (Coates 71), letting him know that he’s got to live every day as if it were his last, making him realize the immense inequality African-Americans face.