In “Citizen” by Claudia Rankine and “Black Movie” by Danez Smith, they both discuss how the African Americans have been experiencing racial discrimination and stereotyping in the media and in the everyday life. They use their voices to express their feelings and emotions through images, artworks and powerful poems in order for the readers to understand what is happening in our society. In the books of Rankine and Smith, they both portray the messages of the blacks’ experiences where blacks are always the bad victims in most cases, such as in sports, stop-and-frisk policy, media, school and in anywhere, but they express black lives experiences in terms of racism differently where Rankine shows it through images and artwork while Smith shows it through powerful poems, such as A History of Violence in the Hood, Dear White America and Dinosaurs in the Hood; they both show that racism should end, so that blacks or people of color will experience equality, justice and freedom without having fear to face some obstacles in their life; and there are following references that prove that racism still exists and the cycle of racial discrimination for black does not stop as Rankine and Smith portray in their …show more content…
These African Americans experience discrimination, racism or stereotyping based on their body type, skin color or their ethnicity. She observes and explores racism based on her observations by using the word “you” as a second person where she portrays all the people who have been in the situation that involves inequality like the people in the stories. Rankine also uses the word “I” to portray as the first person where she says: “You said “I” has so much power; it’s insane.” (Rankine 71) For instance, in the story of Serena Williams, Rankine mentions the story of Williams, who were racially prejudice during her tennis matching games in 2004 and 2009 US Open. In the year 2004, the umpire called five bad calls against Jennifer Capriati. Rankine asserts: “It is difficult not to applaud her for existing in the moment, for fighting crazily against the so-called wrongness of her body’s positioning at the service line.” (Rankine 29) Rankine portrays that people judge Williams based on her skin color and how racial discrimination revealed at that time. An example that shows Williams’anger stemming from racial discrimination when she says: “I swear to God, I’m fucking going to take this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat, you hear that? I swear to God.” (Rankine 29) This shows how Williams outburst