This was such a hard book for me to read. In part because of Coates's use of stream-of-consciousness and his elaborate use of metaphors. But also because I am a white woman who has very little experience in the world of black people. So some of his ideas and examples I had no frame of reference for. I never saw school as anything other than an education and a step towards something else. I recognize the inherent privilege in that statement and so that is another way in which this book was challenging - I was seeing all the ways in which a black body had been brought down, including ways I hadn't even thought of before. This one is going to sit with me for awhile as I reconcile my place as a "Dreamer" in a world where not nearly enough people are given the same opportunities.