America was built on racism and injustice and yet many people refuse to acknowledge that the same racism the US was built on still occurs today. Many people in the US in order to continue pretending that society is equal and peaceful. Many instances of police brutality and pointless killing of black people like Prince Jones in the book happen daily in the US. Coates calls the idea of ignoring the racism and injustice “the Dream” and in his book he tells his son how he wishes he too could get lost in the Dream, because believing in the dream is easier than accepting the truth that the Dream was built upon racism against him. Coates tells his son, “And 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.” Coates shows his son that getting lost in the Dream and ignoring the reality of modern day society is simply impossible as they are constantly being the victims of racism and injustice.
Like Coates explains throughout his book, racism is not just a concept of the past that no longer exists, racism is a daily occurrence that unfortunately usually results in violence. On March 10th, 2019, Lorenzo Clerkley Jr, a 14 year old black teenager was shot twice by a policeman. Lorenzo and his friend were in the backyard of an abandoned house shooting airsoft guns. The police officer looked through the fence of the house and less than a second after giving a warning to drop the gun, the police officer shot four times at the boys. Two bullets hit Lorenzo. Recently however, the body cam footage of the incident was released. This footage shows the officer telling dispatch that he believes the guns are “cap guns” meaning the officer thought they were basically unarmed. Lorenzo after being shot is lying on the ground in handcuffs crying, and the whole time, the officer’s partner keeps a gun pointed at Lorenzo. The District Attorney however did not press charges and the officer went back to work after a paid leave. This is just another example of people lost in the Dream, asleep to the racism of society. A white officer shooting a black teenager with seconds of warning to drop the airsoft gun before firing the shots. The officer then got little to no punishment while the boy had to recover from two bullet wounds. Coates addresses racism like this in the book, on page 130 he says, “Our current politics tell you that should you fall victim to such an assault and lose your body, it somehow must be your fault.” This stance by Coates changed how I felt about the article because it just showed even though Lorenzo wasn’t hurting anyone, and the officer didn’t think he had a real gun, the blame still fell on him while the officer didn’t even get punished.
The Dream doesn’t just protect those who believe in it, it also hurts people who the Dream was created by suppressing. Lorenzo Clerkley Jr was just one example of the many people hurt or killed by the Dream. On page 111, Coates tells his son, “The Dream of acting white, of talking white, of being white, murdered Prince Jones as sure as it murders black people in Chicago with frightening regularity. Do not accept the lie. Do not drink from poison.” Coates is making sure his son knows that the Dream of racism and injustice not existing is poison and is in fact the thing that causes the death of many black people. Coates refuses to believe in the Dream especially after he has seen its effects on black people and how dangerous believing in the Dream can be. I agree with Coates that people in modern society need to wake up and stop believing in the Dream that racism doesn’t exist or that our society is making huge steps towards equality. Our modern society is nowhere near equality and unless we start waking up from the Dream and persecuting officers who cause senseless murders and we realize the racism in our world, the Dream will continue to murder people like Coates says it does.
