Citizen's Parables

Claudia Rankine's work Citizen: An American Lyric, would be more aptly titled Citizen: American Parables. Rankine's use of modern atrocities that African Americans experience on almost a daily instance showed me a new light on their centuries long struggle for equality.

I really enjoyed how Rankine used modern instances of inequality versus old examples of oppression. I think the pictures included in the book really contribute to the stories she wants to portray. The image on page 6 of the street named Jim Crow. It is a modern picture of an old time of intense segregation. It really struck me that something that came from a time of such sadness could still exist in the world today. Whether it is still up due to a desire to keep history alive, or sheer laziness, it still baffles me that something as evil as that time period could still exist in this modern era.

Another image that struck me a lot, specifically of the way that it was portrayed, was the image on page 91 of the lynching. However, the way that Rankine implemented this image in her book was that she removed the image of the deceased, hung, black man. I think this removal of the seemingly focus point of the image is interesting. I believe that her taking deceased out of the picture, in some ways removes the racism from the photo. That was my initial reaction to seeing the image, but after thinking about it more, and with the knowledge that there is someone hanging from that tree, I think the image becomes so much more powerful. By removing the deceased, it focuses more on the emotions of the people depicted in the image. A new focal point emerges, the white man with the arm tattoo pointing the to the spot where the deceased would be hanging. His face shows pure hatred, an undeserved hatred toward the victim. By removing the deceased it becomes an entirely new image, an image that focuses solely on the hatred that many had towards the deceased. It removes the feeling of sadness that one would associate with someone who was lynched. Instead of feeling just sad for the man hanging, its new focus represents the image and the time period in a much more intense way, completely focused on the hatred for the black race.