Section 1 of Citizen: An American Lyric And Movie Example

Section 1 proved to be a motivating and powerful analysis of some of the daily racial slurs and actions that African-Americans face on a daily basis. The section starts with a rather cooling to the touch tone to the reader. She makes the reader want to fall asleep and peace and harmony. She then begins her argument. Essentially, through the first section, Rankine argues that there are certain social challenges that people of minority races will encounter if they do not want to make themselves “blend in” with the rest of society. For example, she references a time when “you” were standing in line at Starbucks, when you hear some boys whisper N***. She argues that most (white) people would simply say “Oh, they are just being boys,” but Rankine argues that (you) should take action and call them out on it.

The first section, while I may have different opinions regarding what she has written, is laid out well. She writes the book as if it is a large metaphor of color distinction between white and black people. However, subtle, she uses the color “grey” sparsely throughout the first section to bridge the gap between white and black people.

Overall, Rankine describes several instances in which African-Americans are faced with racial tensions between whites in nearly every different situation one could think of. She even begins her story claiming that a white child accidentally called her black friend by the name of her “black housekeeper” and perhaps thinking that there are two black people in her life.

The movie provided above is an example of how someone who is African American might be treated or seen differently in a "white space". Ron Burgundy and his news team are simply not accustomed to seeing other races beyond their "white people". Therefore, when they see someone who is African American, they almost panic and aren't quite sure how to treat her.