Self and Other and Racism 

Citizen by Claudia Rankine serves to denounce the idea of “post-racial” America by exploring the presence of racism in a series of accounts ranging from common people to celebrities. The text discusses racial microaggressions that affect the lives of African Americans who reside in the United States. It narrates the problems that this marginal group faces due to the institutionalized racism that’s present in this country. This book forces the reader to think about the racism within this country and whether it has truly ended.     

Citizen deals with issues of racism and discrimination. This text comprises of a collection of poems and stories that deal with racism. Some of the stories are real life events while others are made up for exaggerated purposes to emphasize and clarify the issue at hand. The book reveals societal problems that people of color are faced with daily and it highlights their experiences to show readers this problem exists. It raises awareness for Black people and their never-ending struggles that is symbolized in the book’s open ending.  

Section 1 of the book highlights the everyday occurrences of racism. Racism comes in many different forms and everyone reacts to them differently. Some choose to ignore it and others address it. Rankine narrates this derogatory experience by providing readers with everyday exchanges between a person of color with the majority. The person of color may choose to respond to the dreadful experience in one of two ways; they either acknowledge the issue or ignore it. Rankine provides readers with a series of interactions between people of color and the privileged where the latter commits a handful of what can be an innocent mistake. However, when viewing all these incidents together as Rankine had made it possible, those innocent mistakes look less innocent and more intentional due to the microaggression that exists in society.  

The first section of the books holds a glimpse of what racism can look like in an everyday, harmless basis. The chapter starts with an example of an exchange between two little girls. The girls occupy themselves with the unfavorable act of cheating. This suggest that little kids aren’t as innocent as they are made to seem and can be involved in acts that aren’t held honorable. The knot between self and other starts from the beginning and therefore Rankine choose to start with little kids. The desire for the girl to get a good grade on the test is what persuaded her to interact with the other girl through cheating. Her “self and other” was essentially ignited by her own personal desires. The chapter then progresses into other examples of racial interactions. For instance, there was the black housekeeper incident where a friend by mistake calls their black friend by the name of their black housekeeper. “Eventually [the friend] stopped doing this, though [they] never acknowledged [their] slippage” (pg 13).  Rankine proceeds to ask a question of “why”, why the friend was “never called” on her mistake because the mistake was never forgotten. Most people choose to ignore the things that make them uncomfortable, but that doesn’t make the situation forgettable. This question conveys how one’s self thought and confidence can be tarnished by another due to a racial mistake.       

Section 3 explores institutionalized racism and the insidious threat of racial slurs or black language. This section is similar to the first section as it also dictates a series of racist interactions. However, whereas the first chapter included interactions that were mostly based on everyday occurrences, these exchanges take place in the workplace, between adult friends, and common adult places. It is more hurtful now as it starts to affect the way a colored person might perceive the world and act. When one is older and can understand the depth of the racist statements, it tends to linger longer. One example is when a friend was late to meet her friend and the latter had in turn called her a “nappy headed ho”. When the friend was asked to repeat the sentence again, she couldn’t physically bring herself to. Then why did she bother to say it in the first place? She probably thought it was funny, but in fact, it was quite insulting and borderline racist. Another example that Rankine brought up was when a black person would go to a supermarket and the cashier would check to make sure the credit card was genuine. This interchange suggests how one can be racist without actually saying anything. The cashier had shown through his actions that he held some prejudice against the black woman and thus, suspected the authenticity of her credit card. The woman couldn’t do anything, but go along with his discreet racist behavior, but that doesn’t eradicate her sudden feeling of desolation.  

Section 3 serves to portray the concept of self and other through language mimicry through the misuse of black language. In the previous paragraph, an example of a friend using black language in front of her black friend is shown. The friend calls her a “nappy headed ho,” and the justification Rankine provides is that “Maybe the content of her “statement is irrelevant and she only means to signal the stereotype of “black people time” by employing what she perceives to be “black people language” (pg 47). The friend justified her racist statement of “nappy headed ho” through the racial stereotype of “black people time.” This shows how racism can come full circle. The friend’s “self” which was her choice of language was impacted by her subconscious prejudice and that influenced how she reacted to her black friend’s lateness.   

Section 5 deals with the importance of words and voice within the black community. Having a strong “voice” allows one to be more noticed in the realm of prejudice and racism. Sometimes words can weigh more than actions in the way they move or affect someone. For instance, in the chapter, Rankine gives two examples of men’s physical attraction to black women. While one fetishizes these women, the other barely spares them a second glance.  The first man shows the narrator a picture of his wife and says, “she is… beautiful and black, like you” (pg 84). He could’ve just stopped with saying that she was beautiful, but the fact that he felt the need to add black as a characteristic shows how he views black women as a fetish rather than a preference.  

Section 5 also explores a lot of anonymous characters with strong voices. This suggests to readers that one can choose to remain unknown whilst having a strong voice and something to say. As long as the message gets across, it doesn’t matter who said it. This relates to “self and other” as it shows how one’s self wishes to be hidden. The black community endorses a similar wish under certain circumstances to avoid the pain of being subjected to racism and prejudice. It represent an inner turmoil within the black community on whether to acknowledge the racism or ignore it. As mentioned before, when encountering a racist situation, one chooses to do one or the other. Rankine tackles this issue through the entirety of this book by articulating the multiple exchanges between people of color and the whites.  

Rankine mentions beginnings and endings or lack thereof due to the book’s open-ended themes. This text shouldn’t follow a conventional book style, but rather a style that correlates with the book’s meaning. She wants readers to navigate through the text and be their own guide; if the book followed a specific order, the reading would be too easy. An end would also signal that there is an end to the racism which is false as racism continues even after the book ends.  Racism comes in many different forms as given by the examples above, there’s not a set design to it; therefore, the book shouldn’t have on either. Therefore, Rankine chooses to end the book with the line “It wasn’t a match. It was a lesson.”  A match eventually comes to an end, but a lesson remains and continues to impact the way one decides to live the rest of their life.