Literary and Culture Studies

Part 2 Essay

         The Dream according to Coates is the dream of the White people living in America, a dream of a cushy and comfortable life. Coates says “It is perfect houses with nice lawns .it is Memorial Day cookouts, block associations and driveways”. This shows that the whites have a dream of leading a life of luxury with no stress or worry or anything which can be even remotely disturbing. Everything is just right and idyllic in their world.
         This dream however does not include the blacks, who are supposed to be different from the whites and far removed from their world. The whites dream of leading a perfect life, a life of privilege, of opportunity, a life with no disturbing element in it be it the blacks or anything which disturbs the harmony. It is a dream of a life untouched by the fears and realities of the lives of the blacks, ignorant of the suppression of the blacks. He calls it a fantasy, an illusion of the whites who would not want to shatter it to recognize their role and gains from the slavery and segregation of the blacks. It is as though the blacks simply do not exist for the whites.

         On analyzing this viewpoint I understand that Coates is extremely disturbed by the status of blacks in America. He finds it hard to accept that a country as progressive and as developed as America can afford to blatantly follow a practice of segregation and discrimination. The feeling of not being treated as equal bothers and disappoints him. He realizes that though the blacks are facilitating the whites in realizing their dream but sadly they are not a part of it. Coates makes it amply clear that The Dream is only of the Whites and the blacks have nothing to do with it. He says "For so long I have wanted to escape into the Dream, to fold my country over my head like a blanket. But this has never been an option because The Dream rests on our backs, the bedding made from our bodies." In the wake of this he considers it necessary to forewarn and forearm his son about the actual life in America.

         From Coates's analysis one can conclude that is not difficult for those who discriminate to continue to do it as long as it suits them and then extend it to include anyone and everyone who can be discriminated against. Therefore whether it is on the basis of gender, social class or anything else, as long as one set of people have the intention or the desire and the power to subjugate the other class they will continue to do so.

         Coates's disillusionment with the whites gets strengthened by the realization that it is not only the common man but even the law enforcement agencies, their policies and practices which are against the blacks. The blacks can never ever hope to be treated in a just and fair manner and therefore have to always live in fear. The part where he reminds his son of the week when he learnt that "The killers of Michael Brown would go free" he says "I didn't comfort you, I did not tell you that it would be okay because I have never believed that it would be okay."
This shows his complete disillusionment with the prevailing system and a sad and stoic acceptance of the same.
         As I understand from the readings it has always been a part of the American culture, their policies and practices to treat the Blacks as unwanted and undesirable. As Lipsitz points out "The black youth found themselves unwanted as students by schools facing drastic budget cuts, unwanted as citizens or users of city services by municipalities imposing austerity regimens mandated by private financial institutions and even unwanted as consumers by merchants increasingly reliant on surveillance and police power to keep urban "have nots" away from affluent buyers of luxury items."
         So therefore it is quite apparent that race discrimination is embedded in the American culture and it is so much a part of it that even the powers that be are unable to be objective and fair in their dealings. This is pretty much how Coates also feels about the situation and hence his pessimism towards the state of affairs in America.