Poverty, Ethnicity, and Policy in Contemporary America: Ta Nehisi Coates and J.D. Vance Comparison and Analysis Jamie L Tyson College

The two authors Ta-Nehesi Coates and J.D. Vance have very similar viewpoints within their own racial perspectives. Coates speaks for the poor black Americans and essentially the overwhelming sentiments of most African Americans. Vance on the other hand speaks for the Trump supporters, particularly the constantly ignored working class whites of America. Although the two speakers are on two radically different spectrums, their viewpoints and goals for helping their communities are quite similar and could possibly be simultaneously addressed in public policy.

Ta-Nehesi Coates’ view in his book-length account Between the World and Me is clear: low-income African Americans are suffering from their current conditions because of systemic racism. Coates goes into great depth about the institutions that hold black people back, such as “the police departments [that] have been endowed with the authority to destroy [their] body,” (9). As a result of the constant violence towards black bodies, Africans Americans, particularly those in harsher environments, are in a constant state of fear. They are then taught by older generations to defend themselves, but the thin line between “being too violent” and “not being violent enough” could still...