Racism In Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric

During the time this poem was written, racism and prejudice towards African Americans was prevalent and habituated to whites. From the first stanza alone, the tone is already set as uncharitable and

Citizen’s opening poem sets the tone for reflection. She writes “when you are alone and too tired even to turn on any devices, you let yourself linger a past stacked among your pillows,” – a self-awareness of the events that will arise in the rest of the text (Rankine 5). Throughout the text, the subject in each testimony manifests a sense of consciousness towards invisibility of his or her body. In an example of microaggression, the black woman details an incident in a which a white girl cheats off her test and takes the initiative in “thanking [the woman] for letting her cheat and feels better cheating from an almost white person” (Rankine 5). She erases the blackness of the woman to justify her actions, a common endeavor in white America’s exploitation of the black body. This endeavor is evident of the way white institutions have cheated African Americans of their

The threat issued against The Howard University community is another evidence of the discrimination that exists in our community. The final statement "After all, it's not murder if they're black" supports the point that Claudia Rankine uses in her essay "The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning" saying that Dead Blacks are a part of normal life here. In that essay, she provides several cases of dead blacks to support the argument that the lives of Black people do not matter for Whites. The recent threat against Howard University Community is another proof for black community of our reality; a reality where blacks are seen as an inferior class, as persons who should not have rights.Claudia Rankine states all these points to support her

Rankine’s essay concentrates on the idea that racism affects the perception of Serena’s excellence as the world’s best female tennis player. Toward the beginning of the essay, Rankine states “…the legendary Chris Evert, who herself has called you a ‘phenomenon that once every one hundred years comes around.’ Imagine that you’re the player John McEnroe recently described as ‘the greatest player, I think, that ever lived.” Rankine goes on to say, “Imagine that you have to contend with critiques of your body that perpetuate racist notions that black women are hyper masculine and unattractive”. These quotes, rooted toward the beginning of the essay, easily suggest the idea that Serena’s excellence cannot be discussed without the addition of the racist notions she so often encounters. This statement clearly reflects the lesson in which Serena’s father, Richard Williams, attempted to teach

Whiteness and racism comes from the oppression, colonization and systems of dominance over black people and their feelings. In this case, an intersectional feminist analysis matters because women who are able bodied, cis-gendered, privileged and white are only being considered whereas bell hooks argue that men, women and trans people who oppressed should be fought for. And Peggy McIntosh adds onto this but a white woman who addresses and recognizes her privilege to help other white individuals understand what they have and blacks do not.

White privilege is the ability for whites to maintain an elevated status in society that masks racial inequality. It is also considered a system of advantage based on race, as well as societal privileges that benefit white people. It is usually known as the “other”, or the opposite side of discrimination. Some people in society, typically people of color, feel as though people with white skin have benefits over people of color, just because they’re white. White privilege is sometimes seen as a higher social status, having the freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely as one wishes. The effects of white privilege are predominantly evident in professional and educational settings. Some critics argue that the concept of white

Wise’s examination of the inconspicuous character of racism 2.0 dovetails fittingly with our course’s recurring theme of institutionalized racism. In class lectures we have defined institutionalized racism as the discriminatory practices that have become regularized and routinized by state agencies, organizations, industries, or anywhere else in society. Although such practices might not be intentionally racist, they end up being racist nevertheless as consequence of the systematized and unspoken biases that have become increasingly convoluted and entrenched within society over time. It also doesn’t help white people to recognize these discriminatory practices considering they have been unconsciously tailored to be consistent with white perspective and mentality. In her article, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh examines not only how white folks often consider themselves to be a normative figure within society, but also how they are carefully taught not to recognize the advantages they gain from the disadvantages that impair people of color. In the article, McIntosh acknowledges the reality of her own white privilege and expresses, “In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth” (McIntosh 4). In fact, even if white folks do not believe themselves to

The idea of racism has evolved and has become less prevalent throughout the last century. Schools and public areas are unsegregated, voting rights, racial slurs being considered as unacceptable behavior etc. American sociologist and race theorist, Howard Winant states that’s “The ensuing approaches increased recognition of racial injustice and inequality, but did not overcome the discriminatory processes” (Winant,2000)Although the United states has come a long way to try to end racism, one cannot ignore the fact that it still exists. It is something that may seem invisible in society, but everybody knows that it still thrives and that it’s racial attitudes affect the way our society functions. One of these invisible forms of

In the society we know today, we often believe that it has evolved above racism and all have grown to look past race and see someone only as the person they are. However, in a society where racist messages have institutionalized themselves to the underlying morals of its inhabitants, there is no logic in believing in this archetype of society. Existing since the 1970s when coined by Chester M. Pierce, the term micoaggressions went through serious refining at the hands of Derald Wing Sue, Ph.D., professor of counseling psychology at Colombia University. He has solidified the definition of microaggressions as “…brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that

You may not know any bigots, you think “I don’t hate black people, so I’m not racist”, but you benefit from racism. There are certain privileges and opportunities you have that you do not even realize because you have not been deprived in certain ways. Racism, institutional and otherwise, does not always manifest itself in a way that makes it readily identifiable to onlookers, victims, or perpetrators; it is not always the outward aggression typically associated with being a hate crime. Racial microaggressions are a type of perceived racism. They are more subtle and ambiguous than the more hostile or overt expressions of racism, such as racial discrimination (CITE). Microaggressions are everyday verbal, visual, or environmental

Rankine divided her lyric into seven sections. Although each section focused on different topics they were connected by an underlying theme, racism. The first section focused on incidents of microaggression. Strategically Rankine begins to display incidents that stem from childhood, drawing a clear line that skin color causes children to be treated

In reading this book, I could directly identify with the various forms of violence and especially the violence against black individuals. Being a white moderate with seemingly no identity to find, at the time of reading this book, Citizen helped shape the ideas of what I would have to answer the question “How does it feel to be a problem?”, as well as helping me form an identity within myself. The question “How does it feel to be a problem?”, is a question that per Citizen, is not answered with a simple or easy solution. That being a problem is more a question on the individuals who have this problem, rather than the black individuals themselves who carry this burden of a” problem”. Citizen, for me helped illuminate the real problem which as described above is more of a matter of people who

Citizen, written by Claudia Rankine in 2014, narrates testimonies of systematic racism and every day micro aggressions through poems, essays, scripts and images. Rankine documents the racist encounters through the second person point of view for the reader to feel and understand the effects racism has on the body and mind. This paper will examine hypervisibility and invisibility of the black body embedded in the novel because of decades of racism. Rankine emphasizes the sensory emotions and feelings of the black body as a response to America’s reluctance to recognize and empathize with black men and women.

The speaker who is racist is simply a representation of a racist person in the poem. The represented speaker, being an American is associated with Americans in general. Racism has been an important issue that has to be dealt with through out the world. Racism can be defined as the hatred of one person by another or the belief that another person is less than human because of skin color, language, customs, place of birth or any factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person.

Claudia Rankine is a poet who is good at writing lyric poetry, her book “Citizen: A American Lyric” reveals a tragic fact that even as a powerful developed