Welcome to Racial Identity in the American Imagination's class blog, Who Are You? I look forward to reading your responses to the readings.

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Letter to Claudia Rankine

Dear Claudia Rankine,   I really liked the way you formatted your book by telling different stories from the perspective of a person of color or on the behalf of another person of color. I found it interesting how the first chapter (and others throughout the book) were written in the second person. It is a very unusual writing style, but I found it an effective way to articulate your message, as the readers can better understand the discrimination people of color face and the emotions that follow. I'm interested in knowing how you came up with this method of portrayal.  A story I found especially captivating was the one about Serena Williams. I thought I "knew" about the discrimination she faced as a black women in a traditionally white sport, but I never realized how it was evident through refereeing and increasing progressed through the years. I also didn't realize the effect it had on her emotional attitude on the court, and as a result, I have much more...
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The Catch-22 of Visibility

Dear Claudia Rankine, A major theme of your masterpiece, Citizen , is visibility: how much space are you allowed to take up in every situation in which you are the only minority there? How about in the public consciousness? Even a sigh or a moan, those sounds which feel to you most uncontrollable and natural reflections of your dire circumstance, feel too loud. For some African-Americans, invisibility, a kind of "keep your head down" mentality, serves as the best strategy to get ahead. Try to take the higher ground and not fly into a fit of rage at every injustice. Unfortunately, this can also desensitize and numb oppressed groups to everyday aggressions, those you describe so keenly with each flip of the page. To me, the most unfathomable part of your story was when you described the phenomenon of people mistaking you for other Black people. As you mention, "Apparently your own invisibility is the real problem causing her confusion." (43) I know this kind of ...
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Control

Dear Claudia Rankine, Thank you for Citizen . Before even opening the book, the cover struck me as I examined the torn, limbless black hoodie, now a symbol for racial profiling and police brutality. I was reminded of Ta-Nehesi Coates who writes about the lack of control black people have other their bodies, their lives, that can be taken from them at any moment because of microagressions and racism- all down to a hoodie. A black hoodie stands in for a black man, its presence seems to alert and warn the white viewer to stand armed. Upon reading the book, I fell in love with the way you structure prose poetry- it flows through memories and emotions which are not organized neatly and clearly. You place the reader as the "you" as they explore everyday racism (also known as microaggressions) and its detrimental impact on the person; we are forced into the crippling, disorienting minds of an annoymous person. You powerfully portray how racism deteriorates the psyche of a black p...
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