Aiden Casey

12-6-19

Ta-Nehisi Coates creates an argument that naming and titles gives people in society the sense of entitlement and fear through violence and material objects.

Through acts of violence Coates shows us that a title creates fear. From the day that he was born Coates was given the title of being black. And with this title that he was given, throughout the years he has developed a fear of his own blackness and he seen that others have this fear as well. This fear of a title is especially prominent when Coates describes his thinking after telling us the story about the boy at 7-11; “There were other worlds where children did not regularly fear for their bodies(p.20)”. Coates had just experienced a traumatizing situation in front of 7-11 because of his title. Coates would not hav been in that situation if it weren’t for the way he looked ta the title that society has given him. And if he was not in that situation he would not have had to experience the fear that he had for his life in that moment and to fear his body itself. Coates fears his body and what others think when they see his body because of the title that his body was given. He doesn’t know what people will think or do when they see him and that is what he fears most about his body. This fear all originates from the title that society gave him.

Coates shows us that names given to people with material objects creates a sense of entitlement over others. Coates demonstrates this while he is walking in the city; “white parents pushing double-wide strollers down gentrifying Harlem boulevards...lost in conversation...while their sons commanded entire sidewalks with their tricycles(p.89)”. The people that Coates are describing have been given the title of being white and as told by Coates they have acquired the sense of entitlement over anyone that is not them. Because of the title that they posses these people, consciously or maybe unconsciously, take control of situations and spaces due to their entitled mentality. The material objects, like the stroller in this case, are what give a title power. This power is where the entitlement comes from. The title given to people has created entitlement from their material objects.

A current event that demonstrates fear through a title is written in an article by The Washington Post. The innocent woman, who has the title of being black, was beaten by a man, who has the title of being white. The woman did nothing to the man and because of her title the man developed a fear that caused him to take violent actions. This current event relates to the scenario that Coates took part of in a movie theater; “He was now supported by other white people in the assembling crowd(p.94)”. The black title that Coates has creates a sense of fear into the surrounding people who have been titled white. Only seeing Coates’ title the surrounding people watching the event that was occurring did not know what was happening and had to rely on that sense of fear to determine who they would defend. That fear drew them away from someone different than themselves and towards the person with the same title as them, which was not Coates. These are both just other ways that titles have created fear from violence.

These acts of violence and the ownership of material objects show in the real world how a title or name can give people fear and the feeling of entitlement.