Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen: An American Lyric” is a barrier-breaking, powerful mixed media piece which captures everyday racism and micro aggressions towards African American individuals in our society. Rankine chooses to write incorporating several sources and artwork, but a key aspect of the book is her choice to write primarily in the second-person. This choice carries a sense of controlled ambiguity as the main character “You” is supposed to be a black woman. As the reader, we now obligated to taken on this identity of a particular African American woman and her experiences to feel what she feels; to go through what she goes through, and to experience the racism and micro aggressions as she goes through them. In the previous section of the book, Rankine incorporates multiple images of artwork, along with examples of how other African Americans have handled micro-aggressions and racism, such as professional athlete Serena Williams. However, in the final section of “Citizen” for this Thursday’s reading, it seems like the second person point of view has fully dominated over the other media with the exception of the final page, which is uniquely written in the first person. This can suggest that Rankine’s authorial choice to primarily use the second person point of view followed by a brief first person point of view directly coincides with the character “You” desperately trying to make sense of the racism she’s experienced course of the book. It seems that You’s desperation is grasped by the new first person perspective because of this particular sequence.
Rankine writes extensively in this section about the “ache” of the character You. She writes, “All our fevered history won’t instill insight, / won’t turn a body conscious” (Rankine 142). Here, Rankine is orchestrating the character You to feel a sense of defeat from constant racism. This quote could be referring to the endless oppressions people of color have endured in our country, and You realizes that it can not be used to change the hearts or the mind of those who don’t understand its evil causing her spiral. Rankine writes “You are not sick, you are injured— / you ache for the rest of life” (Rankine 143). This quote creates a level of disparity, as You accepts that this feeling of oppression will never go away. A sickness is something temporary, while an injury can be sustained long term. Rankine is telling You that she will feel this internal struggle forever, suggesting that there is significant and dark longevity in racism as it has sustained through past, present, and future. We see this tension and despair continue to escalate as Rankine writes on. She writes, “Who shouted? You? You / shouted you, the murmur in the air…” (Rankine 145). Again, a helpless feeling arises as Rankine compares You’s shout with a murmur in the air, suggesting no matter how loud You shouts; no matter how much effort she puts towards pushing back on the micro-aggressions and racism she’s experienced and understood throughout the book, her efforts will ultimately be unsuccessful. A defeating realization and acceptance to assume the role of the book’s emotional climax.
In Rankine’s final page, she makes the dramatic change of switching to the first person. She writes that as she’s laying in bed with her partner, she wants to tell him about a micro-aggression she experienced the day before. She explains at the tennis courts, a woman was about to park in front of her, but after seeing she was black, turned around and parked somewhere else (Rankine 159). She says to her partner, “I could have followed her to worry my question but I had to go, I was expected on court, I grabbed my racket” (Rankine 159). Rankine expresses that she felt prompted to scold the woman, to point out her micro-aggression, but she didn’t have enough time. Ultimately, here Rankine chose her peace instead of doing what was right in the situation which would have been correcting the behavior. However, when her partner asks if she won her match she responds, “It wasn’t a match…It was a lesson” (Rankine 159). This perspective by Rankine is profoundly wise and elevated. For this perspective and point of view to be placed in the final moments of the book, directly following the character You’s overwhelming realization of desperation and a never-ending headache of racism, is to relocate the audience to a less desperate place and to one of acceptance. For Rankine to end her book with a “lesson” profoundly suggests in a pessimistic way that the racism she’s experienced isn’t something that can be won or lost. Her outlook on the final micro-aggression she writes about seems to be less about the unfairness and desperation expressed in the second person, but about the acceptance and realization that the micro-aggressions she’s experienced have taught her more about herself, made her who she is, and ultimately have taught her valuable lessons about other people; a deeply unfortunate and unfair lesson expressed to us by the author.
Discussion questions:
Why do you think Rankine writes using examples of racism in sports in the book and uses sports figuratively? What is the significance of this?
I interpreted Rankine’s switch to the first person to be representative of herself and her own thoughts in order to deliver a message to the reader. Do you think that Rankine writes as herself on the final page, or do you think she’s writing as someone else?
Works Cited
Rankine, Claudia. Citizen: An American Lyric. Graywolf Press, 2014.
