On revisiting Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen: An American Lyric”
The seemingly mundane interactions that Black people experience on an everyday basis in “Citizen: An American Lyric” highlight the nefarious ways racism is always around us.
I was 21 when I first read Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine — a novel about the daily microaggressions that Black people face in America — and the ways it forces us to reckon with our Blackness in this country.
You see back in 2015 I was just beginning to own and embrace being Black. I was discovering the right ways to care for my Black body — properly moisturizing, letting my hair grow out, and using products that I historically stayed away from because they seemed too Black. I shied away from products that contained cocoa butter, I wouldn’t use hair grease, or even entertain wearing a durag. It wasn’t until 2015 that I realized my internal self-hatred was rooted in the hatred that America has for Black people. Citizen: An American Lyric helped me to realize that these thoughts were not isolated to myself but a larger problem exacerbated by America.
In chapter 3 of Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine dives into why language can be so hurtful to Black people. She explores its use as a…
