Reading Between Lines of Citizen Margaret Allison Callaway College

In Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, the blank white space occupies more area than all of the black text and pictures combined. As a relatively short American Lyric, one must assume that this half of the book – the parts where nothing is said – has great meaning and is equally as important as what is said directly. This great amount of white space blurs the lines between what the subject is – the words or what is around them. It makes it unclear where emphasis should be drawn, and where your eyes should go. The monochromatic representation of black inked words surrounded by blank white space can be used to reflect on the hyper-visibility we place on people of color in today’s society. Additionally, the juxtaposition of images and text compared to the surrounding white space reflects on decontextualization we create in current media.

Hyper-visibility is an observation based on a sensed difference which leads to a sense of deviance around the subject being observed. This concept is exemplified heavily throughout Rankine’s lyric, but I’d like to draw specific attention to an excerpt that quotes Judith Butler’s response to being asked what makes language hurtful: “Our very being exposes us to the address of another. We suffer from the...