America was built on the idea of equality and everyone starting on an equal playing field all competing for the “Dream.” The typical American dream is that anyone can achieve anything if they try hard enough, but the reality of this situation is that many people start off with an unfair advantage because of their race. In the book Between the World and me Coates shows us that America wasn’t built on the equality that everyone thinks and people today still are not entirely equal. There are many Americans today who are caught up in trying to achieve the “Dream” and the perfect lifestyle that they don’t take a moment to notice that not everyone gets a fair shot at achieving the dream. All people care about nowadays are getting into a good college and majoring in something that make a lot of money so they can graduate, be rich and have a luxurious lifestyle. They think that there is only one set path and this is what you are supposed to do otherwise you are doing something wrong. If someone gets into a better college than someone else of color they might think they are smarter than them or more prepared, but this might not be true at all. We don’t know what's going on in everybody’s life and all the setbacks that they have had. Nobody ever realizes the advantages that they have and all the advantages they have don’t come from themselves. The “American dream” is not entirely fair for everybody and most people don’t even realize it because they are distracted by materialistic items.
Coates constantly talks about segregation and discrimination being the main reason why he is who he is today. All this unfairness he experience simply because of his race allowed him to see the situation in other people's shoes because he knows how it feels to be discriminated against for the color of your skin. In the book Coates explains that “you have been cast into a race which the wind is always at your face... the difference is that you do not have the privilege of living in ignorance of this essential fact.” (107). What he’s trying to say is that everyone is in a race called life but we all start off at different positions therefore it’s not a fair race. Not to long ago a couple people gathered some high schools kids and conducted a social experiment. In the video if the statements the guy was saying were true than you could take 2 steps forward and the prize for winning the race was 100 dollars. When he was done saying all the statements only white people were close to the finish line and most of the African Americans were at the start or really close to it. At the end of the race the coordinator told whoever won to see if they could learn someone’s story and give someone else the money because they need it more. When the race was over people realized how unfair the “race” really is and started empathizing after years of being distracted by materialistic things like money. Coates also talks about how “The people who must believe they are white can never be your measuring stick.” (108). Coates is telling his son that he should compare himself to other people because everyone starts off at a different spot in the race of life. In the video when the actual race started the African American almost came back and won but the deficit was too large to overcome, but they still knew that they were faster they just didn’t have all the advantages of the other people. Which is what Coates is trying to tell his son.
The book constantly talks about how people are too distracted to actually empathize with people, but it's not that easy. As Coates said to his son “No machinery could close the gap between her world and the world for which I had been summoned to speak.” (5). Coates goes deeper than words with this quote, he is implying that what he experiences is unexplainable to those who haven’t seen it first hand. It is unimaginable to not be in control of what happens to your own body and he just couldn’t explain that to the reporter even if he tried. People are always distracted by something other than actual people and they never see what’s right in front of them. No one ever even tries to empathize and get a glimpse of what life is like as a person of color.
