Racialc Discrimination

Danelle Arasheben

Professor Jennifer DeGregorio

Composition and Rhetoric

21 February 2017

Racial Injustice

        Claudia Rankine, the author of the book Citizen: An American Lyric, depicts the life of a black person living a life with mistreatment and discrimination. Through the use of prose poems and anecdotes, Rankine creates a connection between the reader and the stories told in the book. This relation allows her to grasp the reader and place them in a world that they can see the brutality and reality of racism. Rankine utilizes different techniques to further enhance the reader’s understanding of the racism experienced by black Americans. While connecting the readers to the experiences faced, she uses evident cases of microaggressions to show that racism is present in everyone’s day-to-day normal lives. Furthermore, she lays the on - going theme of discrimination, but shows it in many different cases. By doing so, racism is shown in many distinct scenarios that acknowledge the hardships blacks go through just because of their skin color. All these techniques, while different, work simultaneously to produce the immense effect that defines racism as a huge social issue in society. Rankine reveals the belittlement and mistreatment people of color handle on a regular basis by connecting the reader to the poems, exposing microaggressions and building up the stories on their common theme: racial discrimination.

Some people can remember a specific encounter with racism, some have too many to count and others, none at all. When people have not felt discriminated against they are oblivious to the concept of mistreatment and the unworthy feeling it brings someone. To tackle this problem, Rankine speaks to the reader in a way that strips them of their social, economic and racial status. She creates an atmosphere that places the reader in the experience, making them feel as if the racist comments and actions in the anecdotes are towards them. For example, in one of the first prose poems, the reader is directly addressed to, “You never really speak except for the time she makes her request and later when she tells you you smell good and have features more like a white person” (5). Rankine uses the word “you” to purposely draw the reader and create an attachment with the story told. When the reader is placed in a black persons “shoes” they can fully grasp the dehumanization and stereotypical comments said to them. The connection Rankine makes between the stories and the readers creates an unsettled feeling for the reader. They are shown how society treats blacks, and for someone who lives a life with little to no racism, the concept of someone speaking with such little respect is shocking. Rankine’s technique of connecting the reader to the stories unlocks a sense of empathy towards people who are discriminated against in American society.

People of color are prone to microaggressions in their daily lives; although small acts of racism, they contribute to the huge problem of discrimination that sickens American culture. Rankine shows the day-to-day acts of racism that blacks deal with. To someone of an ethnicity other than black, small racial comments seem insignificant but in reality it is the stem to tolerant racism in America. The anecdotes in Citizen reveal silent forms of hate that are aimed towards black Americans. People say casual stereotypical and discriminative comments to blacks that, as a whole, subliminally degrade people of color. For example, a manager says to their black worker, “… he blurts out, I didn’t know you were black!” (44). Rankine shows that blacks are often reminded of their race, and instead of making someone feel “American” they feel oppressed. This notion of different types of Americans defines society, people are then judged by their ethnicity and no other factors. Rankine shows this side of racism because it demonstrates how deeply engrained discrimination has been put in our society; people don’t even realize what is considered to be intolerant and hurtful. By exposing the use of microagressions in American society, Rankine denotes the concept that blacks are mistreated and viewed as different.