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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to the author, how is racism experienced through real estate?

2. What regret does the author have about the incident with his son and the escalator?

3. Why was the man on page 112 arguing with the boy in the car?

4. When the author sees a police officer, he automatically thinks:

5. Whom was the author interviewing in Chicago?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the author angry and frustrated at the outcome of the investigation of the undercover cop who shot Prince Jones?

2. How does the author contrast black and white societies?

3. What is the significance of the author's description of the slave burial plot in southern Manhattan?

4. How is the author disappointed by the lack of education during his Civil War battlefield tour?

5. What reasons does the author give for the anger of the man who was having his home repossessed?

6. What lesson does the mother of the boy on page 112 (Lucia McBath) try to impart to the author's son?

7. Why did the thought of encountering the Prince George's County patrol officer frighten the author?

8. According to the author, how do the behaviors of police departments reflect American values?

9. What reasons does the author give for Prince Jones' behavior prior to his death?

10. Why are black children told to be "twice as good"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Amidst multiple examples of police brutality, the author mentions an effort on behalf of some police departments to improve relations with black Americans by diversifying their staff, utilizing body and patrol car cameras and offering sensitivity training. In the same paragraph, he points out that there remains a significant distance between the police and those they are appointed to protect. Does diversity, sensitivity training and the use of cameras allow the citizens of America to build trust or dissociate themselves from the police force? Is is possible to overcome this dissociation of racism between authority and citizenship. If so, how?

Essay Topic 2

When the killer of Michael Brown was set free, Samori (the author's son) was overwrought with anger and sorrow. The author could not bring himself to console his son, although he did sit with him as Samori grieved. Why did Coates find himself unwilling to console his son? Why were things "not going to be okay"? What lesson was Coates trying to teach his son in that moment?

Essay Topic 3

Do Coates' words empower all black Americans? The author writes primarily about the experiences of black American men until the final section, where he interviews the mother of Prince Jones. Why might Coates have focused on the aspects of being a black man in America, as opposed to incorporating the struggle of the black woman as well? Since his memoir is an open letter to his son, why might he have made the decision to focus on the more masculine aspects of black America? Would the text have been as effective, or more effective, if he had incorporated more feminine experiences?

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This section contains 1,446 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample