Citizen: an American lyric, by Claudia Rankine is a series of stories/poetry that explains thoroughly racism encounters/micro aggressions in different ways. Throughout her writing, Rankine adds images to further push readers to think outside the box about the daily racism encounters. She also includes famous people, their encounters and how it shaped who they are and how they are viewed by society. My essay will focus on three sections or people with their encounters and how they responded; Selina williams, Zinedine Zidane and the murder of James Craig Anderson. Rankine was able to discuss her story and others of racial experiences in different perspective through the theme of “Hate” and “blindness”. 

Rankine begins this book with a story of a young girl experiencing racism (microaggression) but does not know exactly what it meant. “You assume she thinks she is thanking you for letting her cheat and feels better cheating from an almost white person.” Rankine begins with this story of her life to tell readers her racial experience when she was growing up (specifically in public places.) Certain words, phrases or actions are not taking serious in or society due to various norms that has put people to blind. At the age of 12, she might have been blind by the fact that no one ever explained to her about such actions or who she is surrounded by. Rankine, then goes on to tell other racial encounters she had, but tells most of these stories through a second person point of view to allow readers to insert themselves in the situation and feel the same way she felt. She also includes racial encounters of famous people like zinedine Zidane, Selina Williams, Trayvon Martin.

Chapter II of this book talks about how black celebrities/ artist releases their anger when they face a challenge. With this, Rankine starts with a picture of a famous YouTuber (Hennessy Youngman) in one of his YouTube videos, describing “how to become a successful Black Artist,” which he focuses on how black artists should deal with Anger. This story transitions to the story of Serena Williams in the 2004 US Open. Rankine described the story of Serena Williams in the 2004 US open as it is one of the most uncomfortable days of Serena’s life as a tennis player. She explained how certain calls that was made against her were international and were made because of her race or color. Serena williams knew what was going on but paid no mind to it and continued with the game. Later in her career, she finally decided to put at end to her silence by raging and repeatedly saying “no, no, no”. She did this in the 2009 women’s US Open final, which brought attention to all viewers about what she’d been through on the court until that moment. Rankine adds a quote from Zora Neale Hurston that suggest a reason why Serena faced all these problems. “I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.” This quote, in Rankine’s point of view elaborates on how tennis has a history on white people, but Serena who is “black”  is booming even besides her race.  

“Every day I think about where I came from and I am still proud to be who I am …” As arguably one of the best soccer players in world history, also a famous celebrity in france, Zinedine Zidane, besides his exceptional abilities and talents, still encounters racism on the field. During the Italy vs France 2006 World Cup, zidane, heabutts an opponet after hearing a racist comment about him. This immediately resulted in an ejection from the game. Never did Zidane wished for this to happen to him, at least not on that specific day of his soccer career. Not only did Rankine included this story because of the statement that lead to Zidane reacting to it, however she include this because of what zidane said when he was interviewed. “Do you think two minutes from the end of a World Cup final, two minutes from the end of my career, I wanted to do that?” Also, Rankine included this story because she realised that through someone’s negative comment against Zidane, his career ended as early as in the final minutes of the game. 

In chapter VI, Rankine describes many disturbing incidents that affected the people of color. Story such as the killing of Trayvon Martin, Hurricane Katrina, and the murder of James Craig Anderson. She described the story of the murder of James Craig Anderson and included a statement from one of the muderres, which goes “I ran that nigger over, is itself a record-breaking hot June day in the twenty-first century.” this statement, plus the actions that was performed by those white teens shows the act of racism and microaggressions. In details, Rankine described how everything went down, but using symbols to represent them. From what was done by the white teens, Rankine this action as dark and eve described Craig Anderson as “a black subject. No, a black object.” this is due to the fact that the boys treated the 47 year old African American. Images at the end of the chapter shows a collection of different images of racism that had happened in the past, which include the picture Trayvon Martin.

Claudia Rankine Decide to mention beginnings and endings in the last page of the book to show that microaggression/racism occurs at any point in time and does not end. Which connects to the last sentence of the book by Selina Williams. She ends the book with the quote, “It wasn’t a match.  It was a lesson.” to summarise the response of many people that experience racism. The response of a victim of racism is a lesson to them self but not a win or lose. This is because, the victim has now been exposed to the atmosphere of racism and has learned a lesson from how they responded to the situation. Which now shows them how to act in different environments to not encounter racism again or how to overcome racism with their specific response. Example is how Serena Williams responded to Mariana Alves in her 2004 US Open match against Jennifer Capriati. “Serena, in her denim skirt, black sneaker boots, and dark mascara, began wagging her finger and saying “no, no, no,” as if by negating the moment she could propel us back into a legible world.”

The theme of self and Other in Literature explains the idea that one should consider the moment or behavior of the other and must not judge them for any reason. As expressed in the book, microaggression which occurs as a result of hate, exist in our society and is affecting the relationship between one and the other. Which the theme of self and other in literature goes against racism, microaggression or any form in behavior that the disturbes other people in the society. If citizens or active members of our society begins to disregard the usage of certain phrases like “Oh my God, she’s gone crazy,” or actions like “ A woman pulled in and started to park her car facing mine. Our eyes met and what passed passed as quickly as the look away. She backed up and parked on the other side of the lot, ” there would be a huge connection between people which will bring about success in the society.

The style of writing (choosing to add images, writing in a second person perspective, etc) by Claudia Rankine made it possible for readers to understand the central theme of the story of how racism/ microaggression is affecting the people (mostly people of color.) Citizen is a book that comprises of various moments where Rankine herself encountered racism/microaggression. She also included famous people and how they also encountered racism/microaggression. Altogether, this book is great in terms of raising awareness about microaggressions that goes on in our society, which deprive people from being who they want to be. 

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