Toni Morrison said the writings of Ta-Nehisi Coates have filled a void left by the notorious James Baldwin. Both grapple with black masculinity, traveling abroad, and the insurmountable task of surviving while black in America. Coates’ essays to his son are hyperaware of black history and the falsities of the American Dream but also encourage an exploration of the world not afforded to many of the diaspora.

I read Between the World and Me, on a 4 hour flight to LAX. I needed some inspiration before starting my last semester of my undergraduate career, and I couldn’t have made a better choice. Coates’ words reminded me of my parents, and the way he described his son sounded eerily similar to myself. One striking paragraph described his son’s distraught confusion when the verdict for Micheal Brown’s case was known. His son e inspiration before starting my last semester of my undergraduate career, and…