Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration”
(about 1.5 pages)
This essay became an instant classic in the debate around whether the U.S. should pay reparations for the injustices of slavery and Jim Crow segregation.
In making his case, Coates draws upon history, sociology, public policy, statistics, and interview data. He argues that “gray wastes” or a massive system of prisons have become America’s primary answer to problems largely caused by racial injustice and that African-American families suffer greatly from the incarceration of their members. Coates, the author of several books, has been called the “new James Baldwin” in his power to engage readers with narratives of racial injustice.
- This essay has become a kind of “instant classic” in the debate around reparations for slavery and racial segregation in the U.S. Why do you think this is the case?
- What is the most important thing you learned from this piece?
- How does Coates organize his argument? Why does he start with Moynihan and his ideas for reform? Why is his style of organization important to the piece?
- How does Coates’s piece compare with the two pieces we have read by James Baldwin? (“Notes of a Native Son” and “Sonny’s Blues”)
- What is Coates’s “call to action” for the reader? Did he convince you of his point of view? How do you feel about reparations for slavery and Jim Crow segregation in the U.S.?
