Rankine’s The Citizen and How it Has Personally Affected me as a Reader

Claudia Rankine’s book known as The Citizen has changed the way I have viewed stories and books.  Rankine brings a new level of emotion within her words, and she strategically uses images to help viewers create a visual of what she is trying to get across. Overall the book takes a stand against microaggressions and the other horrible mistreat that has been spread across the nation as common and unimportant.  She is focusing on the mistreat of African Americans within the United States.  As a whole, the book puts together all the words I cannot find when I am too frustrated at our country to express them.  She uses multiple instances in media to shine a light on the darkest times our nation has created for itself.  

As an example, I have decided to use the section Rankine wrote about in memory of Trayvon Martin.  I know we went over it in class just recently, however, my ideas were not as pieced as they are currently.  This particular segment within the book has pieced together everything I believe poetry and writing in general represents.  As someone who enjoys poetry more than anything, I have to say that out of all of the books and all of the poems I have read I have never felt as much as I did when reading this piece.  

The way Rankine pieces together both her genuine feelings and complete fact makes the reading powerful.  She goes back to segregation, to the Jim Crow Laws, and even the years of passage.  She uses terms black people are often called, she expresses the fact that in a country where everyone is considered free, the color of a person’s skin traps them forever in a stereotype.  As I read on I continued to feel her pain, but also her strength.  It required so much strength to be able to put this into words and have little fear of being ridiculed over it for being overdramatic, as she discussed in Serena William’s section.  She creates imagery in her words to express the need for change in our country.  How many innocent young men and women need to die in order for America to see that we have an outrageous problem in our hands? 

Another example, this time as a visual image is, the image found on page nineteen, which we have also discussed in class.  In class, however, it seemed as though people were confused by this piece. I know that art, as well as poetry, can be taken in very different directions, but this piece gives a clear meaning to me.  The reading before this expresses the hate and micro-aggression African American individuals experience time to time.  Little Girl by Kate Clark, expresses a lack of hope in a young person’s eyes at the future this country holds for diversity acceptance.  The visual gives off a fearful feeling as well.  I say this because the body of the animal with the human face seems to be trying to hide, but the face also seems scared.  Scared of what the future holds and scared of what is currently happening within our country. 

These two examples within the book have made me realize how much our country is in shambles.  The entire book pulled at my heartstrings the entire time because of what goes on in our day to day life that is just considered normal in the eyes of the public. How unfortunate is it that America is so clueless to change that anyone who writes about is overdramatizing?  Or how unfortunate is it that whenever someone writes about this topic they can find numerous factual examples? Or how much passion does someone have to write with to get the point across that micro-aggression and just plain racism is extremely wrong in every way?