Coates in the passage of “The Case for Reparations” makes a resounding argument about the facade of separation. His goal is to illustrate that no matter what people try to scapegoat as the reason for discriminations is, it all leads back to black and white. To portray this argument he compared the poor white man to the black slave, and their progression over time. They had similar tasks and similar points in society, but their improvement was significantly different. If anything at one point the Slaves degreased as poor white men were granted citizenship and right to bear arms. Thus, pushing the racial gap even bigger as the threshold for blacks to gain rights seemed to grow larger. All the dreams that Americans had for equality ,during the reconstruction era after the civil war, went out the window as klansman, white liners and red shirts seized the opportunity to terrorize black people. By doing this, they dehumanized African Americans and made them feel as though no progress had been maid, regardless of all their fighting. This essentially depicts the picture that Coates is painting. No matter the amount of improvement made, separation of black and white people seems to be an everlasting theme that people do not want to truly let go of.
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I like how you pointed out the difference in treatment of the poor whites and black slaves. Both groups were looked down upon at the time, however, when it came to the second amendment right, the real racial inequality in this country began to show. The black community was degraded to nobodies and ever since then they have been fighting to get back on equal footing.