Citizen: Initial Reaction

As soon as I read the few first pages of Citizen, it hit me that it was going to be unlike any other view of racism that I had ever read or experienced before. The first few pages, simply giving seemly small events of simply accepted racism were truly depressing. After 20 pages, I started to wonder if this was going to be the style for the entire book. And from that I began to realize how much reading each of bothered me. It put me in an empathetic view in which no media on the subject ever has before. From that perspective it was hard not to feel the pain and just hope for it to stop. This book gave an incredibly intimate and personal view of how racism affects Black people in America. There were many parts where the hopelessness and pain of those affected was painted beautifully.  The thing that got to me most about it was that in a situation in which a white person says something plainly and clearly offensive, there is no response a black person can give that is appropriate. If a black person is angered, they are not just an angry person, but an angry black person, which somehow removes the validity of the anger. The emotions that passed through this book of just toughing it out and keeping quiet really got to me. After 80 pages of seeing that hopelessness I was having a hard time wanting to continue exposing myself to it, and yet, that is something that people in America go through, every day, all day, without a choice.

I think the part that got to me most was near the end in the story about the man on the train. The way in which he requested that he and the speaker pretend they were traveling as family was heart wrenching. The man was so dejected by the daily pain he receives that simply the act of sitting down next to him and not feeling the need to treat him differently was very powerful.

All in all, I think the book completes its mission as a work of protest very well. It really brought to light a different perspective which so much media has failed to do. The short passages about daily events as well as the larger injustices against Serena Williams and others clearly portrayed the racism in America in amazingly human terms. There was no need for philosophy or a greater understanding of the history of racism in America. It was just artistry about the feelings involved. While some of the poetry was beyond me, I thought the majority of what I could grasp was really strong. It was so emotional and personal, that I feel that it would be hard for anyone who picks up the book not to feel exactly what Rankine was trying to express.