"When I was four or five I can remember my father sitting me in his lap and saying, 'Carrie, you are the equal to anybody, black, brown, green, yellow."' Carrie Mae Weems, the author of this extremely powerful picture, knows social injustice more than most.
Weems, in my mind, is attempting to display all the ways in which this boy is scrutinized. Is he blue? Is he black? Is he a boy? The answer to all these questions, however, is irrelevant. What he truly is, is a human being, just like the rest of us. No matter what shade his skin reflects, what size, or what age, this is a living, breathing, beautiful piece of nature, which should never be judged.
How can so many sit there and view this precious creature as black? Is that all he is and all he will ever be? Why can't we just accept this person as equal? Why does color matter?
These are all questions that Claudia Rankine, author of "Citizen", attempted to solve when she inserted this compelling image into her book. Injustice is present in our country just as much as it ever has been, but maybe one day people will begin to see all human beings as equal...
I agree completely. Rankine does draw a lot of attention to how people need to be viewed as people rather than their skin color. She also really focuses on how black people are viewed as objects, not as human beings.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree because people use skin color to categorize a persons behavior, but Rankine is basically saying stop looking at color and look at them as human beings.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting arguments and I agree with all of them. I agree with the way that you expressed your anger and concern for the future thoughts of the world for blacks too.
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