'"I swear to God I'm fucking going to take this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat, you hear that? I swear to God!' As offensive as her outburst is, it is difficult not to applaud her for reacting immediately to being thrown against a sharp white background" (Rankine 29). Citizen addresses how black people are always compared to white people in their actions and attire. This is formally seen when Serena Williams, a famous black tennis player, forgoes the normal reaction to stifle her anger because of how it is interpreted by white people.
This moment in the Citizen, where Serena Williams stands up for herself in spite of being seen as just any other black person causing mischief and lashing out, caused me to think of how we as society compare white people (who are thought to be more intellectual, appropriate, and proper) to black people (who are seen as criminals) and how our conclusion always comes to the same: the black person is crazy or a troublemaker. Society doesn't allow for black people to let go of the restrictions that make them more acceptable. Serena's true reaction occurring at an important time in her career shows how much tennis meant to her because she let go of what others would think and risked being herself.
I think that it goes even further. It shows that playing a typically white sport has not changed who she is at all. She is still the same person and will lash out just like anyone else. There is not a doubt to me that something similar to this has happened before to a white tennis player, but it went unnoticed because their rage was seen as normal and understandable.
ReplyDeleteI think you make an important point in the last line of your analysis. You state that Serena Williams "risked being herself." To some extent, I think that Claudia Rankine is risking being herself by writing Citizen in its entirety. Citizen is a dynamic exploration of what it means to be black in America, which is a risk when placed against the stark white background we live in.
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