Analysis Of Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric

I believe that Claudia Rankine named this book Citizen: An American Lyric because she wanted to emphasize that we are all citizens but certain citizens are treated differently. Everyone has things in common, yet society only focuses on everyone's differences. Instead of realizing that we are all citizens of this world, people focus on other's historical self. Society puts an emphasis on where we come from, what our background is. However, people fail to realize that other people's background is not what is important; what is important is that we all ended up here. Society should embrace people's similarities, instead of their differences. One poem that stood out to me was the one where there was discussion over a photograph of an individual who thinks their face is "relaxed", but their friend sees something different. The friend thinks that individual looks angry because instead of smiling, they have a straight face. Rankine included this poem in her …show more content…
"Being around black people is like watching a foreign film without translation" (Rankine 50). After reading this quote, it was hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that people actually think that is true; that African Americans are so "different" that their existence is foreign to them. This way of thinking is hard for me to understand because were all equal. Regardless of our historical self, were all here in the same world, doing the same things like having a job, family, home and all daily things in-between. Being in an environment surrounded by individuals who make racist comments is not comfortable for anyone. Instead of society making individuals feel uncomfortable, society should be inclusive and embrace everything that everyone has to offer this world. I believe that this poem fits into this book perfectly because it exemplifies exactly how Rankine does not want us to