Historical Self vs. Self Self

The micro moment in Citizen on pages 15-16 really made me think about the "historical self" that someone is right when they are born v.s. who they really are, or their "self self". Rankine mentions this right before the micro moment in the novel.

This reminds me of the situation when I was younger when someone claimed that a black man walking down the street with a hoodie was considered "sketchy" or even "dangerous". When I was younger I did not understand this at all. Why should something that someone is wearing effect why people view them a certain way? The "historical self" of the black man is considered "sketchy" or "dangerous" because of the history that has preceded it. People do not view a black man walking down the street as their "self self". 

 This short story reminded me of this time. It is almost the identity of a black man or women is lost sometimes because of what they are wearing or what they look like. I think this is extremely unfair and also interesting because it makes me wonder why does this even happen? Why do people judge people even more specifically blacks on what they look like or what they wear? And why are they grouped in the same group as others? In the story why does the man insist that the black men in the house not who he says he is? Why doesn't he believe the woman when she says that its okay and he shouldn't worry? This relates to the “historical self” and the “self self” in that we see people sometimes as different than they actually are because of our preconceived notions of them. In this story they saw the black man on the phone as a threat because of their preconceived notion of how this black man should be or what he was defined as before. It's almost as if they lose a sense of their identity because of their historical self. I think this is extremely interesting and also almost unfair. It is like judging a book by its cover. Judging someone on something that you knew before. This is not a right way to go about in the world. We should approach every new person as someone different and unique.