American Ignorance Created By the American Dream

The American Dream is one of the fundamental beliefs that draws immigrants from all over the world to the United States of America. This American Dream is built on the belief that in America, somebody can go from rags to riches through hard work and devotion to the idea. Based on capitalism, the American dream promotes entrepreneurs and individual ideas as a way for one to better themselves. Although this dream is considered great by some, it does lead to American ignorance of certain major social issues prevalent in our nation. At the forefront of these issues: racism, and mistreatment of many minority groups. In Ta-Nehisi Coates' novel Between the World and Me, the idea of American ignorance related to the Dream is one of his most widely explored ideas. Coates displays the view of Black in America when he says: "Black life is cheap, but in America black bodies are a natural resource of incomparable value" (132). Here, Coates suggests that black lives are considered to be worthless, and that black bodies are "taken" from their owners in numerous quantities. Throughout his novel, Coates demonstrates how the American Dream covers up the issue of racism in the nation.

Coates provides references back to the Civil War and slavery to explain how the American Dream has covered up America's questionable past, and created an image of innocence. "But American reunion was built on a comfortable narrative that made enslavement into benevolence, white knights of body snatchers, and the mass slaughter of the war into a kind of sport in which one could conclude that both sides conducted their affairs with courage, honor, and elan" (102). Coates uses this quote to portray the past that America was built upon that slavery, and the blood of the Civil War. Also, Coates references how America's heritage is now viewed as courageous and honorable. America continues to ignore and deny the injustices that occurred both before and during the Civil War era even though systems such as slavery laid the foundation for the United States today. Coates suggests that the American ignorance its heritage is due to the idea of the Dream. "The lie of the Civil War is the lie of innocence, is the Dream. Hollywood fortified the Dream. The Dream was gilded by novels and adventure stories" (102). The reason for this American ignorance of its history is because of the American Dream. This "Dream" has been included in pop culture and media in order to show how America is a "great nation" or how it is "built on equality". The reality of this Dream, however, is that it ignores the flaws of America, and denies the idea the inequality is still a prevalent issue in our nation.

Officer Jason Van Dyke who shot and killed Laquan McDonald in 2014

Coates furthers this idea by showing how the Dream is not a real thing, and that it actually motivates acts of inequality in America. "The officer carries with him the power of the American state and the weight of an American legacy, and they necessitate that of the bodies destroyed each year, some wild and disproportionate number of them will be black" (103). Racial inequality by police officers has became a major issue, and Coates displays how this is due much in part to the Dream. Coates references that an officer carries with them the "weight of an American legacy" which is meant to be representative of this Dream. Many police officers use this American Dream to justify the mistreatment of minorities as a means of "protecting the nation". But rather, these officers are taking the bodies of these minorities in large quantities. In terms of being a minority in the United States, police officers are not viewed as protectors, and even getting pulled over for something as simple as a speeding ticket can become a major event. In 2014, Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke brutally shot and killed Laquan McDonald in one of the most heinous acts of police brutality to date. In terms of police, America has a troubling past of major racially motivated injustices. This inequality under the law in America is covered up much in part by the Dream, as it serves as a distraction from major problems within out nation, and provides a false sense of equality.

As Coates suggests, the American Dream is actually a promoted of inequality within the nation. According to a Time Article, "Research shows that in reality, American social mobility is among the lowest in the developed world. Far from being the Land of Opportunity, a child born poor in America is more likely to remain poor than in any other comparable country." This further demonstrates Coates' point that the American Dream actually is not what it may seem. The Dream is that anybody can raise their social status through hard work in America, however, only a select few can actually move up the social ladder in the United States. The Dream, a belief that America prides itself on may not be everything it's shaped up to be, and in the future, America should begin to acknowledge the history that is fundamental to its foundation.