By: Yildiz Subuk, Staff Writer
Content warning: mentions of slavery and genocide.
“Even plunderers are human beings whose violent ambitions must contend with the guilt that gnaws at them when they meet the eyes of their victims.” — Ta-Nehisi Coates, author and journalist
Ta-Nehisi Coates writes not to inform, but to address. In The Message, he writes to his “comrades” — the students at Howard University. He guides the book’s topical issues regarding narratives of the oppressed by using first person (“I”) and second person (“you”) points of view to create a relationship with readers. Rather than just reporting, he decenters the idea that issues regarding the oppressed are morally complex. The stark level of humanity that Coates approaches his topics with is haunting and prevents readers from looking away.
Senegal, South Carolina, and Palestine. These three places inform Coates’ efforts to decenter the distorted, oppressor-created narratives of the oppressed. He uses soul-stirring imagery to describe these places in their true form, as opposed to the way it takes shape through oppressor perspectives.
Oppressors need to create myths in order to uphold illusions that justify their actions. While specific details may be dense, the morality of the situations are not. Coates argues that those who suffer tend to have their stories shaped by the oppressors themselves, which make moral violations feel distorted.
In Dakar, Senegal, Coates is overcome with the feeling that he is about to confront a truth he has known his entire life. He talks about visiting the Island of Gorée, where 20 million Africans were bought and sold into slavery. While being flooded with grief, he describes how Senegal is filled with people whose beauty feels natural to him. He is reminded of Nubia, with his parents’ stories imprinted in his mind. To him, it’s a stark reminder of how this beauty was ripped apart by the slave trade — how peaceful, uninterrupted families were thrusted onto ships and sent away for the benefit of another. It calls to light the idea of so-called “superior” groups who give themselves the power to dictate who gets to live their lives the way they want to. This excursion reveals the power of storytelling and how these stories can only feel true once they’re confronted head-on. Coates leaves Senegal feeling a sense of kinship with the land and people, as well as a desire to confront his truth.
In his next two travels, the role of the oppressor is made more apparent. Coates leaves feeling a sense of kinship with those who fight against the narratives of the oppressor. The right-wing state of South Carolina finds his book, Between The World and Me, offensive. This book discusses white-privilege and how Black people are constantly under threat by it. Parents complain this may make some of the white children feel guilt. Once a group’s privilege feels threatened, it’s usually because the narratives they are taught are distorted. Facing an uncomfortable truth is more than discomfort — it is a confrontation, one that needs to be addressed, and that’s what Coates does as he ropes readers into the truths he learns.
The final and longest section of the book documents his travel and insights from Palestine and the Israeli-occupied regions. He looks at the Israeli occupation not as a complex moral issue, but one that presents itself that way, when in reality it is undeniably one of genocide and injustice. Coates travels through various parts of the West Bank and reveals how identity plays a crucial part in who gets rights. The idea of civilness is only applied to the settlers, whereas the Palestinian people are limited in their ability to travel through the country. He travels and becomes comrades with an ex-IDF soldier who regrets his service upon seeing the realities of the people his former institution oppresses. He speaks to Palestinian vendors, chauffeurs, and those who are at the centre of the atrocities. Coates gives a platform to those whose voices have been stripped from the traditional media, but writes that the story of Palestine is not his to tell.
By providing the excerpts of those that fight and continue to find ways to keep their homes, he confronts readers with the truths that are shaped by the language and storytelling around us. For Coates, it is through travel where he is able to derive that truths can only be told by those who are subjected to its oppression.
The Message can be ordered on Massy Books’ website.
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