Monday, December 7, 2015
Get Away From My House! The Discrimination Blacks Still Face
I think that one of the most powerful passages in Citizen can be found on page 18, when the lady that Rankine has an appointment with sees Rankine on her doorstep and her first reaction is to scream "Get away from my house! What are you doing in my yard?" This passage is a perfect demonstration of the type of discrimination black people still face today. If you are a therapist who is expecting a patient at your home, expecting someone in your yard, and yet you still freak out over a black person being in your yard, it is obviously unfair to assume that this is someone who will do you harm. At least, to me it seems obvious. Rankine packs so much meaning into this passage here. And in this passage, she gives someone like me, a white male, a sense of what it would be like to be her. With her vivid imagery and clever word choice Rankine is able to transport me into her feelings in that moment. That is why Citizen is quite a remarkable work.
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You point out a very interesting issue. A therapist, someone who is supposed to work with others in a clam manner and be inviting, reacting in that way really shows the issue with this discrimination. The fact that they would immediately feel threatened is an issue that we still need to work through today.
ReplyDeleteI have read multiple accounts of stories where this, or similar events, have happened. Like the piece Rankine wrote about the man on the phone in the front yard with the kids or as Scott said, the therapist incident. I remember reading a different news article where a black man had to break into his own house (through the window) in a predominantly upper class, white neighborhood because he locked himself out. A neighbor ended up calling the cops because what he saw was a black thief breaking and entering, oblivious to the fact that this man was his neighbor. A swarm of police showed up and would not believe that he was telling the truth until the man finally was able to show proof (as far as I can remember). I tried to find the article again, but was overwhelmed with the number of similar articles all revolving around the same theme "minority breaks into his or her own house- neighbor calls the cops- home owner is handcuffed- police do not believe them". As happy as I am knowing neighbors are truly looking out for each other (in the sense that they would call 911) how neighborly could they be if they don’t even know what they look like, let alone their race.
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