Citizen: A Discourse on our Post-Racial Society Anonymous College

The subject of modern day racism is sensitive, loaded, and very real. Whether present in public realms, such as news headlines of injustice, or private spaces, like the hearts of those who burden bitter perspectives, the topic of race is a meaningful problem that merits disclosure and awareness. In this essay, we will examine the quality and value of Claudia Rankine’s Citizen as an artistic discourse that aims to outline prejudice and injustice in our so-called post-racial America. Alongside Citizen, we will compare Rankine’s overhead message with the idea of double-consciousness in The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois to further analyze its significance.

Rankine laces Citizen with loaded anecdotes of subtle racism in the second-person on how they cause uneasiness. In 2018, we live in a country a century and a half removed from slavery, a half century removed from the civil rights movement, but what still remains is the ramifications of racism. “Microaggressions,” or subtle slights of racism that communicate hostility, condescending thoughts, or derogatory attitudes that the narrator encounter reign through anecdotes in her work. The narrator experiences these slights from all kinds of people, ranging from strangers to...