On Ani DiFranco’s website, she affectionately posts her favourite books of the month, an idea more artists should do, really. This month, it’sTa-Nehisi Coates’ Between The World And Me.
this book floored me with its ability to make me (someone who has never experienced what its like to be a black man in America) feel not only the physical peril but the subliminal sabotage of mind and heart that racism perpetrates. addressed from Coates to his son, the pages pulse with the poignant tension of a father torn between trying to caution his somewhat less-damaged son about the limits to, or even the fallacy of, his inclusion in the white power structure, and trying to back-off and allow his son to grow up feeling freer and more hopeful than he ever has. this is a book filled with deeply examined social dynamics and rhythmic sloshes of poetry. it has the power to touch the heart of any parent who aches for their child to have the opportunity to surpass them but fears that a heartbreaking disillusionment lies ahead.
