Ta-Nehisi Coates Quote

And it occurred to me then thatyou would not escape, thatthere were awful menwho’d laid plans for you,and I could not stop them.Prince Jones was thesuperlative of all my fears.And if he, good Christian,scion of a striving class,patron saint of the twice asgood, could be foreverbound, who then couldnot? And the plunder wasnot just of Prince alone.Think of all the lovepoured into him. Think ofthe tuitions for Montessoriand music lessons. Thinkof the gasoline expended,the treads worn cartinghim to football games,basketball tournaments,and Little League. Think ofthe time spent regulatingsleepovers. Think of thesurprise birthday parties,the daycare, and thereference checks onbabysitters. Think ofWorld Book andChildcraft. Think of checkswritten for family photos.Think of credit cardscharged for vacations.Think of soccer balls,science kits, chemistrysets, racetracks, and modeltrains. Think of all theembraces, all the privatejokes, customs, greetings,names, dreams, all theshared knowledge andcapacity of a black familyinjected into that vessel offlesh and bone. And thinkof how that vessel wastaken, shattered on theconcrete, and all its holycontents, all that had gone