There Goes The Babysitter

Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen, and Achebe both express the same idea in their critique of race in our society. Achebe points out the inherent racism that lies within Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Although the book is meant to be a criticism of European imperialism, Achebe argues that the book is racist for making Africa the heart of darkness, and likening all of its inhabitants to wild beasts. Achebe argues that this was an unconscious subjugation of the people of the Congo, which is similar to many situations in Citizen where people have no intention of being racist but, do so subconsciously. One situation that she exemplified was one where a babysitter was making a phone call outside of the house and the neighbors got frightened and called the police. The neighbors had no intention of making the babysitter's life harder but they did anyways.