“Anyway, he wants you to know, he’s called the police” (15).
I think this line in Citizen is one of the most powerful lines in the entire book. The short essays in this book (because I don’t know if I actually do agree that it is poetry) serve to show the norms of whiteness and racism that exist in American society today. Stories exhibit people of color in their typical lives and how often and how normalized acts of racism against them are.
In the story that this quote is from, the speaker, presumably a middle aged African American woman, goes to see a movie, so she asks her friend to babysit her child. She ends up getting a call from her neighbor because he is concerned that there is a man, who might be dangerous, in the yard, so “anyway, he wants you to know, he’s called the police” (15). When the speaker returns home, she sees that the man, is in fact, the babysitter, who the reader can presume to also be African American.
I think this moment was one Rankine chose to highlight because it is such a direct link to current events. The image of the “vigilant white citizen” can be seen across the United States. Citizen was published somewhat in response to Trayvon Martin’s murder, and George Zimmerman very much fits the profile of the “vigilant white citizen” who thought he was protecting his neighborhood; African Americans in our culture have been so unjustly labeled as inherently dangerous. In the story, the man was having an animated conversation on the phone and, the white neighbor found that to be a good enough reason to call the police. Zimmerman saw a black body in a hoodie and presumed he was a threat. In the same situation, a white man would not have sparked the same fear as a black man, and that is the racism Rankine is trying to highlight. The inherent fear and criminality associated with black bodies in America is so wrong, yet somehow normalized, with case and point being that Zimmerman was acquitted.
I really appreciated your connection of this line to the Zimmerman case, as that came to mind when I read that line as well. The idea of cops approaching a black male has become a terrifying scenario. I never thought there would be a day when the very people who are supposed to protect human beings are the ones some people need to watch out for. You make a very good point however, that this is because there is an "inherent fear" now associated with Black people. While talking about it and revealing the issue is good, I can't help but wonder what we can do to change this.
ReplyDeleteI too thought your connection between the Zimmerman case and her story was great, it mortifies me that this is the reality we live in today. I feel more and more disgusted with our country and lack of progress each day. This book and the detailed essays within it have revealed things to me about race that I hadn't consciously realized. I agree with Talia in her query, what can we do to change this.
ReplyDeleteAs Jaycie and Talia have said I really liked how to connected the Zimmerman case to the novel. Your mention of how there is this "inherent fear" now associated with black people was very eye opening to me. Not that I haven't realized this but it's sad to think that nowadays people feel the need to feel scared whenever they see someone, specifically a black person, walking down the street.
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