Chala Jamison 

November 2, 2017

English 

Professor McNair

Essay 3  

                                           American Dream or Fraud?  

Many people believe in the American Dream, a national ethos of the United States, a set of ideals including democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity and equality.  The Dream  is  freedom and includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as an upward social mobility for the family and children. Ta-Nehisi Coates believes this is a misconception. In his book between the world and me, he argues that if you are not white you can not receive the American Dream. He sees the American  Dream as misleading the people who actually strive for it, especially people of color. 

A main reason why Coates views this concept as flawed is because  racism.  Coates believe that his son will soon be racially profiled by police. The  police still looks at color before viewing the character of the individual.  He comes to see that it is not exactly his race, but the fact that “white” people decided that “blackness” exists: “And I saw what divided me from the world was not anything intrinsic to us but the actual injury done by people intent on naming us, intent on believing that what they have named us matters more than anything we could ever actually do” (120). The Dreamers need their “below” in that they need to keep their exalted position by dint of subjugating others. “White” and “black” are artificial constructs, but they were created by the dominant group to derive and maintain power.

Another important reason is that Africans were enslaved when they first came to America to help build up America into the large successful country that it is today.  As Coates states in his book on page 11, “But this has never been an option because the dream rests on our backs, the bedding made from our bodies.”  African slaves had to produce manufacturing. Field hands, both skilled and unskilled, worked in outdoor chores, like farming and blacksmithing. They worked long hours in all types of weather. It was usually backbreaking work like picking cotton. Large plantations had overseers who supervised the slaves field work.  Which kept help Americans grow food to eat and made building that large business are owned by multi millionaire corporations.   African Americans was promised 40 acres and a mule for all the hard work and all the years of slavery . African Americans never received the 40 acres or the mule .America  has manipulated Africans; the government is continuing to this very day . This shows the correction of Coates’ rebuttal  to The Great American Dream is truly false . Coates sees the world  from different  many different people . Many will agree with Coates then their would be others whom disagree. 

As I have shown,  Coates believes that  the american dream is flawed  . To correct this misconception, he suggests that people talk about the issue to the world.  As he has shared his book, he expects others to spread the word of his book . He leads by example when he spreads the word  on the news and he also reads historical books . Coates is right to argue that the American Dream is Flawed . 

Although I agree with Coates that the American Dream is flawed, I  think that racism has to come to an end immediately because it is causing a tremendous amount of anger in the world, which can lead to riots and a massacre of killings. That can be prevented from happening in the future if racism ends now.  No room for war in America, when the focus needs to be on other countries are planning on attacking Americans. My own experience with racism has been horrible. Yet every time I experience racism I report it and make videos . I take it to head management and also with the Court if no justice is served. That is how I handle racism in today’s society.

Work Cited 

Coates , Ta-Nehisi , Between the world and me  2015 (Pages 50-120)