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Microaggression In Citizen: An American Lyric

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to feel unwanted. Take for instance, the prevalent use of non-traditional gender pronouns. Others acknowledge that people can identify with many genders, not just along the binary of male and female. Using a person’s preferred or desired gender pronouns (such as the gender neutral “they” instead of she or he) is not a meaningless exercise in identity politics. It is an acknowledgement of a person’s innermost identity, conferring both respect and dignity. When people are being subjected it makes them feel as though they are undesired. In the novel Citizen : An American Lyric written by Claudia Rankine, a poet and MacArthur Genius Award winner, many microaggressions were shown and one of them are : Certain moments send adrenaline to the heart, …show more content…

Which occurs when a white person is given preferential treatment as a consumer over a person of color. The example above shows that people of color are servants to whites. They could not possible occupy high status positions. It shows that just because her friend is black she is looked at like her black housekeeper. Even though she made a mistake she never acknowledged what she did. She ignored the microaggression that she had put on her friend and had hurt her. This discussion brings emotions such as grief and frustration. It brings grief because of how her black friend must feel. Being called the name of her white friend’s housekeeper whom is black made her feel like her white friend sees herself as a higher superior to her. This brings frustration since she can not figure out why her friend would call her the name of her housekeeper and not acknowledge the fact that she did. Even if she did not mean what she said, she still could have apologized. Minorities go through more than people think. Racial and ethnic minorities experience a lower quality of health care that non-minorities. Even when the patient’s insurance status and income are controlled. Understanding microaggressions are difficult to do and they are just as difficult to detect, however standing up and taking a stand can lead to a more inclusive

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The author presents the readers with different experiences of what occurs in her everyday life. Each example contains racist actions although not drastic it’s subtle enough to be detected by people of color that might be oblivious to white people. These daily racists actions whether intentional or not are micro aggressions meaning that they are instances of racism that are communicated to people of color on a daily basis. The term micro aggression is linked with the text since each piece of text is an example of it that the author, Rankine, has experienced through and multiple people go through.

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Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine is a hybrid and communal text constructed out of varying poetic form accompanied by contrasting imagery, and historical events. Rankine, although the author of this text is not necessarily its narrator. She plays with prospective, switching the fundamental meaning of “you” and pulls from the personal experiences of her friends, colleagues, and surrounding community. Rankine is able to incorporate “an emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity in [her] writing”, blur the line between various genres, and “[reject] … elaborate formal aesthetics in favor of minimalist design”, which are the pillars of postmodern works (Klages). She utilizes historical and modern events such as the Jim Crow laws, affirmative

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The discrimination against the white race begins with a gradual distinct treatment of the African Americans who appear to have a trace of the white race. Helene proves to have a more formal dialect as she asks for “the bathroom” (23) and the black woman cannot understand until Helene finally refers to it as “the toilet” (23). The difference in word choice distinct Helene from the African Americans in the Bottom. The fact that Helene also has fairer skin than the African Americans gives the black woman a reason to believe Helene has a trace of white. Therefore, when Helene approaches the black woman on the train, “[the woman fastens her eyes]…on the thick velvet, the fair skin, [and] the high tone voice” (23), as if surprised and shocked to see an African American women appear in such a manner.

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