dice used for cheating. “Loaded dice.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loaded%20dice. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to hum, whir, or hiss like a speeding object (such as an arrow or ball) passing through air. “Whiz.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whiz. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

inspiring horror or intense fear. “Grisly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grisly. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

a state of temporary inactivity : SUSPENSION —used chiefly in the phrase in abeyance. “Abeyance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abeyance. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to discharge completely (as from an accusation or obligation). “Acquit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acquit. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to be extremely joyful : REJOICE. “Exult.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exult. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

not feeling or exhibiting shame or remorse : not repentant. “Unrepentant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unrepentant. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

darkly vague or obscure. “Murky.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/murky. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

vigor and strength of spirit or temperament. “Mettle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mettle. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

firmness of mind or spirit : unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger. “Grit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grit. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

a building or chamber in which bodies or bones are deposited. “Charnel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/charnel. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

not alloyed : UNMIXED, UNQUALIFIED, PURE. “Unalloyed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unalloyed. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to shoot with a Taser gun. “Tase.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tase. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to apply handcuffs to. “Handcuff.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/handcuff. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

blustering swaggering conduct; a pretense of bravery. “Bravado.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bravado. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to use one's high position in a society, organization, group, etc., to order someone to do something or to get special treatment or privileges. “Pull rank.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pull%20rank. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to move or act slowly. “Dawdle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dawdle. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

marked by clever discerning awareness and hardheaded acumen. “Shrewd.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shrewd. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

a usually tightly packed or disorderly crowd. “Scrum.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scrum. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

a large collection or number. “Raft.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/raft. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

a superficial or deceptively attractive appearance, display, or effect. “Veneer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/veneer. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

having a supple and resilient quality (as of mind or body). “Limber.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/limber. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

something projected with sudden speed especially : a sharp glance. “Dart.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dart. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

a piece of property (such as a deed or charter) that descends to the heir as an inseparable part of an inheritance of real property. “Heirloom.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heirloom. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

(gentrification) a process in which a poor area (as of a city) experiences an influx of middle-class or wealthy people who renovate and rebuild homes and businesses and which often results in an increase in property values and the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents. “Gentrification.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gentrification. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to move with a splashing motion. “Slosh.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slosh. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

Limestones and brownstones are iconic architectural elements in Brooklyn, New York, contributing to the unique charm and character of many neighborhoods. for more infromation: https://thenewyorkcitybroker.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-nyc-brownstones/

colorful, rich, or splendid display. “Pageantry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pageantry. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

marked by keen caution, cunning, and watchfulness especially in detecting and escaping danger. “Wary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wary. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to look narrowly or curiously. “Peer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peer. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to hinder the normal growth, development, or progress of. “Stunt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stunt. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to take intense pleasure or satisfaction. “Revel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/revel. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

Beginning. “Outset.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/outset. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

a debased, distorted, or grossly inferior imitation; a burlesque translation or literary or artistic imitation usually grotesquely incongruous in style, treatment, or subject matter. “Travesty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/travesty. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

a formal written statement framed by a prosecuting authority and found by a jury (such as a grand jury) charging a person with an offense. “Indictment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/indictment. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

not readily investigated, interpreted, or understood. “Inscrutable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inscrutable. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

Flavored fortified wines.

to carry or convey in or as if in a cart. “Cart.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cart. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to cause to deteriorate by use (past participle of wear). “Wear.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wear. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

the part of a wheel or tire that makes contact with a road or rail; the pattern of ridges or grooves made or cut in the face of a tire. “Tread.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tread. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to take by force or wrongfully. “Plunder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plunder. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to delineate or impress clearly. “Etch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/etch. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to issue sporadically and in small bits. “Dribble.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dribble. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

severely injured or damaged by cutting, tearing, or crushing. “Mangled.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mangled. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to burn a surface of so as to change its color and texture. “Scorch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scorch. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to drive or urge forcefully or irresistibly. “Compel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compel. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

a hard yellowish to brownish translucent fossil resin that takes a fine polish and is used chiefly in making ornamental objects (such as beads). Here, it is used metaphorically. “Amber.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amber. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

lacking or deficient in flesh. “Lean.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lean. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

to deliver a sermon. “Preach.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preach. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

an elevated platform or high reading desk used in preaching or conducting a worship service. “Pulpit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pulpit. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something. “Zeal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zeal. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

imperfectly formed or formulated. “Inchoate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inchoate. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

a video camera that is worn on clothing and used to continuously record activity in front of the wearer. “Body camera.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/body%20camera. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

popular acceptation or favor; one that is in fashion at a particular time. “Vogue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vogue. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

training in a small interacting group that is designed to increase each individual's awareness of his or her own feelings and the feelings of others and to enhance interpersonal relations through the exploration of the behavior, needs, and responses of the individuals making up the group. “Sensitivity training.” Merriam-Webster.com Medical Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/sensitivity%20training. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.

The Prince George's County Police Department. It operates in the State of Maryland.

Amiri Baraka was a poet, writer, teacher, and political activist. He was born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. You can read more about him here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/amiri-baraka Also, you can read the full poem here: https://genius.com/4777077

A further development of the concept of body. As the author matures and meets new people, he realises that the appropriation of Black bodies is not equal, and that there are certain groups that are in greater danger than others.

The final point Coates makes to make his child understand that racism is not a mere concept, but rather a very tangible thing that needs to be dealt with case by case, and that heavily wounds the flesh.

I found this to be a very lucid, intimate and possibly unexpected thought from someone who has been discriminated all his life. Coates realizes that being being discriminated does not necessarily means being pure, and that there is a very high risk of discriminating others just for the sake of validating oneself.

From the country of Trinidad.

At Howard, Coates goes through his intellectual evolution. This is the moment in which he uncovers from the veil that blinded him and realises that The Dream he always yearned for is flawed and false, because it rests on African Americans' backs. He suggests that African Americans must not try to "live the American Dream" and aspire to live as whites, but rather that they have to find their own way of living (thus mirroring the differences between the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power advocates that came later).

This a further analysis of the author idea's of education in school. He once again brands school as a tool of reproduction of ideas and prefers the library, as there the reader has agency over his readings and can decide by himself what he deems necessary.

Again, the author reiterates the idea of the complexity of history. One cannot expect to study it and find an absolute truth, but rather a series of different ideas and arguments.

A Canadian-American writer that won the Nobel prize.

It is an American television series and documentary about the civil rights movement in the U.S.

It is a 1989 single by Terry Tate.

They are both public speeches delivered by Malcolm X. The former was delivered on 1963, whereas the latter on 1964.

The fifth verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.

He feels that school is a mere tool of reproduction of concepts that seem very distant to his reality, and that it can in no way help him.

In this quote, Coates describes a concept that may not be so obvious. He argues that schools were a dangerous place as well, because errors made in school had consequences just as if you messed up in the streets. The difference was only the delayed time of punishment to the body.

The author further works on the metaphor of a barrier separating two worlds.

"Mr. Belvedere" refers to a popular American sitcom that aired on television from 1985 to 1990.

A very famous American convenience store chain.

Again we see the reiteration of the concept of body.

This passage is really important, because it describes the process of learning. In fact, it leads to more question, opinions and theories. Coates understands that he will not be able to find an official explanation of Black History, but rather as an intricate mass of authors arguing with each other. His previous views of Africans as nobility shatters, and he puts everything into perspective. He realizes that no "race" can be defined as wholly "good", and that the point of education is about being able to see the world in its complexity.

Coates makes a very interesting point about the education given to African Americans. They did not only experience violence in their life outside of home, but they also had to deal with their parents' violence, that educated their sons very harshly because of fear.

Another reference to the myth of American exceptionalism, specifically its religious dimension.

Coates underlines the fact that even if policemen do not applicate laws correctly, their actions are often misclassified and they are rarely held accountable for their actions due to white privilege. To further analyse: https://www.healthdata.org/news-events/newsroom/news-releases/lancet-more-half-police-killings-usa-are-unreported-and-black

A typically American form of social gathering which involves eating ice-cream.

A shopping mall in West Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

Coates' lucid description shatters a prejudice about young men in the streets that wear jewellery, play loud music and sell drugs. They are, according to the author, merely humans whose marginalized existence led them to a certain lifestyle that aims to self-protection.

American exceptionalism in one of American's myths described by Heike Paul in her book "The myths that made America.". In the words of Byron E. Shafer, American exceptionalism is "the notion that the United States was created differently, - essentially on its own terms and within its own context. It derives from three different dimensions: 1: The religious dimension: as described by Deborah Madsen, American exceptionalism "is used frequently to describe the development of American cultural identity from Puritan origins to the present". The puritan rhetoric of the Promised land can be in fact considered to be the origin of the phenomenon. 2: The political dimension: in the discourses of America's founding fathers, one can see the creation of a mythology that describes a shared sense of a secularized doctrine of US-American predestination. 3: The economic dimension: it is often seen as a precondition for individual success, which is mostly understood in economic terms. It valorises self-interest as legitimate and necessary for the well-being of the body politic.

A friendly gesture of greeting.

As this is a recurring phrase, here's a link of the author himself explaining thoroughly the meaning of this phrase: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/tolstoy-is-the-tolstoy-of-the-zulus/278789/

Coates realized the extent of investigation that has been done before him. He struggles to put together a coherent narrative. As we will read in a later passage, he will be able to overcome this struggle by defining what education really is.

His wife, Kenyatta Matthews.