That being said, one of my favorite quotes from Claudia Rankine's Citizen appears in her James Craig Anderson situation video:
"James Craig Anderson is dead. What ails you, Dedmon? What up? What’s up is James Craig Anderson is dead. So sorry."Perhaps I am not interpreting it the way Rankine intended, but I took this quote to be full of anger. I took it that in just this one moment, the author's anger got the best of them and they unleashed this from inside them (akin to the stop-and-frisk situation video's narrator's "Go ahead hit me motherfucker" outburst).
I imagined yelling this quote in the face of Dedmon after he ran over Anderson in his truck, as his friends yelled about "white power," and that felt good! However, it doesn't do anything to bring Anderson back to life or to actually change Dedmon's racist mind.
I realize that ultimately acting out of pure anger isn't helpful or good for anyone. But anger is just passion, and it takes passion to ignite change. I'm glad that Claudia Rankine, amidst her more serious and somber pieces, left room for moments like this in her situation videos, where she let anger show through just as much.
I read this quote as anger too. A good, righteous, well articulated anger that will still sadly been written off by some as your aptly hyperlinked stereotype. More people need to express their anger on issues like this so that it cannot be written off as any one inherently angry group.
ReplyDeleteI read this quote as anger too. A good, righteous, well articulated anger that will still sadly been written off by some as your aptly hyperlinked stereotype. More people need to express their anger on issues like this so that it cannot be written off as any one inherently angry group.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you added the link to the " stereotype based solely off of my anger." It is a very nice touch to prove your point.
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