Coates Interviews

Blessie Vergara

Post #3

The NPR interview was unique in that it was conducted by phone, just as Coates was about to return to Paris. This posed numerous time constraints and the interviewer was limited as to what she could ask Coates. Thus, the majority of the questions were directed toward the book and the insights one would be able to derive from them. Questions went along the lines of “what was the significance of this point?” and “how do you feel about your book and its reception?” On another note, it was interesting that the last question the interviewer asked was about the Thanksgiving holiday and what his plans were. It is as if the interviewer tried to end on a light note after asking pressing questions.

The PBS interview conducted on October 24, 2015, focused on how pessimistic the book seemed to the interviewer. The interviewer attempted to ask different types of questions about the points made in Between the World and Me but always fell back on how pessimistic the work was in some way or another. “Are you pessimistic about the United States’ approach to mass incarceration? To the prison system? Are you pessimistic about the fact that African-Americans are most likely to commit crimes?” To answer these questions, Coates used different examples to make the same point. To him, the work was more realist than anything.

The first interview was casual compared to the other two. It was more like a getting-to-know-you conversation rather than an interview about the book itself. In this interview, Coates talked about his upbringing and how that inspired his text. He also talked about how his text affected conversation with President Barack Obama, regarding the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. Personally, I would conduct an interview this way; I got more out of this interview than any of the others. I am more interested in one’s motivations behind their actions than the action itself.