Many parts of of Claudia Rankine's Citizen struck a chord with me, but it was the lines on pages 134 and 135 that really made me think. On page 134, there was a long list of names of black victims of police brutality, each name preceded by "In Memory of." After several lines, the text shortened to more lines of faded "In Memory," which implied that the list goes on and on. This list was so emotional for me because I remembered many of the names, as well as what part of my life I was in when their stories emerged. Names like Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice, and many others evoke pictures of injustice and tragedy and a plethora of hashtags.
The quote on page 135 follows these names, "Because white men can't/ police their imagination/ black men are dying." Originally, I felt this line seemed contradictory; shouldn't white men police their views of black men as evil and villainous, especially since these generalizations contribute to black men's unjust deaths? In an interview with The Guardian that addressed this very line, Rankine explained, "Darren Wilson told the jury that he shot Michael Brown because he looked "like a demon." And I don't disbelieve it. Blackness in the white imagination has nothing to do with black people." Rather than excusing Darren Wilson's view of Brown, Rankine separates it from black people as a whole. I interpreted this statement as her way of saying that white people's view of black people is not black people's problem. Therefore, black victims of police brutality should not be blamed for their own deaths.
I agree with you that it is the shooter that is responsible for the death of the assaulted (I really wanted to say "it is the white person who is responsible for the black person's death" but that seems a bit harsh) but I also think it is the people who sit on the sidelines who contribute to this mess. (I feel preachy right now like "don't be a bystander" which is sorta what I want to say) Anyway, I feel that if more non-black people showed an interest in the black community and called out "anti-different race law breakers" than things would actually begin to change. This would go beyond just feeling Empathy. Non-blacks would have to participate within the black community, or at least try to do things like having a "Black lives matter" day at school. Try to make it seem like black or non-black doesn't matter, how much your willing to accept another human as human is what matters.
ReplyDeleteThe title and first paragraph here made me think of Janelle Monae's recent protest song -- powerful in its simplicity: http://amysmartgirls.com/janelle-monaes-protest-anthem-is-a-must-listen/
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