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MARTYRDOM

Do not speak to me of martyrdom,

of men who die to be remembered

on some parish day.

I do not believe in dying

tough, I too shall die.

And violets like castanets

will echo me.

~Sonia Sanchez

When examining the relationship between the individual and society we must first examine the various layers to both the individual and the set society. In the context of Coates’ book Between the World and Me the society is the Faberge egg we call America. There is the black society in which Coates must reside and then the white society which encases it. The outermost layer of this society is painted to be the perfect society while the inner black community is neglected by the individuals that are able to ignore it. For the black individual, and specifically the black male there is no escape from this society.

Coates opens his book with a quote by Sonia Sanchez which portrays the inconvenience of both death and martyrdom. Within the black community we force teens and black men to die as martyrs when their death is inconvenient to perpetuate the “Black Lives Matter” movement. For example, Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old black male died at the hand of a white man and is now on t shirts which commemorate him. Though I personally do not know the story, and many others do not as well, he is remembered. He is a martyr.

The systematic remembrance of individuals that have died as a result of police brutality does not make their lives important, but their deaths. When MLK Jr. died, he did not die as a martyr. People do not constantly commemorate his death, but instead with his accomplishments of his life.


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