The beginning of this reading really opens Coates' eyes to the history of oppression. He is trying to figure out what being black all entails and what he finds surprises him. He remembers back to his history class in high school. There he read about kings and queens of the world, and what he started to notice was that he related to the servants of the them. What he also started to notice was that some of these people that were being oppressed just like his people, weren't always black. This changed everything in Coates' mind about being black. He suddenly thought that being black had absolutely nothing to do with skin color anymore, it had to do with being on the bottom.
I had to sit and think about that statement for a while. Is black really that bad of a word in society? I never thought it was, but after watching that video in class of all those men of different races in a circle, I realized that just because I don't notice something happening, it doesn't mean it's not happening. Coates said the realizations of all of that was exhausting, and that's one thing I feel like I actually can somewhat relate to as I read this book, but in a different way. As Coates is getting exhausted about realizing black people are constantly in a lose lose situation in society, I'm starting to find out just how bad white people have made it for them. It's literally embarrassing and shameful. I can't relate to what Coates has been through, but I do think that I am capturing some of his emotion for it all.
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