The power of love can keep people going in a society that is filled with injustice and discrimination. Ta-Nehisi Coates understood the power of love in his book, Between The World And Me, as he was attempting to warn his son about hardships growing up in the world as a black man. James Baldwin also knew the power of love in his book, The Fire Next Time, as he describes his views on how to move forward in a society that makes it hard to see major beneficial change for the lives of African Americans. If there had to be a way to move forward, expressing love in American communities would be the answer because it opens up so many paths of strength and unity within society, especially with America’s education system which lacks coexistence, is highly segregated, and lacks the spread of true knowledge.
Love does a great job with opening the path of coexistence. Coexistence means people of all colors and backgrounds being in the same areas without the spreading of hate and teaching each other to choose love over hate and at this current time it seems like America sadly is not choosing coexistence because the system still seems to value white bodies more than black bodies. Without spreading the idea of love, coexistence would be impossible. Furthermore, the education system of America lacks coexistence as New York has the most segregated school system in the nation, 90% of black students attend predominantly nonwhite schools. White and Black children are being taught not to live around each other from a young age, because of this they are not able to learn how to love and live with one another, which prolongs racial discrimination/injustices in the nation.
A way to desegregate the school systems of America would be to give both white and black children equal opportunity to have the same resources for a proper education and if that means having a more integrated school then so be it. A way to integrate schools in New York would be to have the NY school district superintendents articulate plans to engage parents of diverse races and income levels, because students attending schools all start with the parents. Having schools integrated will allow students to know each other through experience and not just false assumptions presented by the media such as criminalizing students of color. James Baldwin made it clear that, “in short, we, the black and the white, deeply need each other here if we are really to become a nation-if we are really, that is, to achieve our identity, our maturity, as men and women” (Baldwin 97). Baldwin strongly believes in the idea of coexistence and that in order for coexistence to be prominent in America we need to spread, which is why he emphasizes that we “deeply need each other”. The idea of needing one another starts from a young age and that sparks from developing the environments at school. It is better to realize the benefits of love and coexistence at a young age then when older.
Ta-Nehisi Coates was a man who strongly believed in protecting your own body from societal pressures and this caused him to be unable to see the power of coexistence due to the fear of losing his body when he was growing up. Luckily later on in life Coates’s wife convinced him to take a trip to France and explore a new way of life. When Coates visited France, “[he] wished someone had told him what [French class] really was-a gate to some other blue world” (Coates 21). Coates realized the benefit of living and viewing the way of life of people other than his own and he knew it would have been better if he realized this while he was in school. The idea of coexistence should be taught and present in the school systems because through this, students will understand the benefits of unity and love. Love has many powers and can open the key to many paths.
Love can open a path up for true knowledge. When a person actually cares about the well-being of others they will try their best to set them up for success. The American school system lacks care and love for students, especially students in minority communities. Those that are in charge of what is being taught in American schools give false information or sometimes give a half-truth story to the children. Christopher Columbus should not be seen as a hero to elementary school kids after forcing Native Americans out of their homes. Charles Darwin should not be praised in the science world of middle school children since he inhumanely put an African boy in a cage with apes to justify his false evolution theory. Students should not be taught to praise villains of the American society but that is what is being done in American schools because of the lack of love the system has for the students which causes the system to limit the resources given to certain students in school. The opposing side may say that it is out of love to make the villains seem good. The opposing side is ignoring the fact that when students find out on their own, they will be extremely hurt that they have been lied to and have not been prepared to live in a world full of corruption because it was hidden from them from a young age.
Furthermore, it is clear that the system does not love the students but loves the reputation of America and wants to maintain the “good” reputation for as long as they can. Coates and Baldwin will agree that true knowledge should not be hidden in schools and that a solution is to advocate for people who actually love and care about the students’ well-being to be at the top of the D.O.E because they will make sure true knowledge is given. Baldwin loved his nephew therefore he warned him about the corruption of America. Baldwin strongly writes to his nephew, “The crime of which I accuse my country and my countrymen, and for which neither I nor time nor history will ever forgive them, that they destroyed and are destroying hundreds of thousands of lives and do not know it and do not want to know it” (Baldwin 5). The system has an issue with destroying many lives in America, and one way they destroy lives is through the spreading of false knowledge, which has been going on countlessly throughout history, especially for the African American and Latino communities.
Although Baldwin and Coates have some similarities in ideas when it comes to the idea of love in American society, they have different ideas on the idea of moving forward with lack of love in America. Throughout Coates’ Between The World And Me, Coates seemed very pessimistic about America and the idea of love in America. He noticed how “the people who believe they are white” have been destroying black bodies throughout history, all because of their love and thirst for superiority and not the unity of America. Ultimately causing Coates to be intrigued by the idea of protecting his own body and encouraging other African Americans to do the same especially his son, because he believes the system will never change the lack of love it has for black bodies and will always prioritize white bodies over black bodies. Coates seemed to strongly believe that white people will never change and is almost hopeless for the greater good of America, since African American remain having to protect their bodies.
On the other hand, Baldwin seems to be on the more optimistic side when it comes to America becoming a better country and pursuing the idea of coexistence. Baldwin’s optimistic side was shown when he met with Elijah Mohammed and was connecting Mohammed’s views with his churches’ view on black people having their own lives and white people having their own lives, which totally goes against the idea of love and coexistence. Baldwin did not agree with his church’s idea or Elijah Mohammed’s idea of having separate lives and that all white people are evil, because he had some white friends that were nice and believed in having a life where black and white people could love each other and coexist.
If I had to choose, I would say that I am more with Baldwin than I am with Coates because I believe that being more optimistic about coexistence will open up more minds and routes to actually making it more possible in America. The idea of protecting one’s body will only cause the American society to move further away from the idea of coexistence. Furthermore, if students grew up being taught to protect their own bodies, the possibility of living amongst each other peacefully will be doomed because the future lies in the hands of the students and they will learn to separate and not unite.
Love is not the only answer or guidance to coexistence but it is a step closer. People are taught to hate and grow to love, there is always growth in love, let it start with the children of America for a better future.
Works Cited
Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. Vintage, 1993.
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. Random House, 2015.