Pastor 1

Nikki Pastor

Imagining Justice

Dr. Katie Gilbert

April 29, 2021

Black Bodies Seen in Citizen: An American Lyric

Citizen: An American Lyric is by Claudia Rankine is a series of prose poems about the

black experience in the United States. Rankine claims that because of being invisible or being

seen as a threat, black bodies are tired and aching. Rankine suggests that when black bodies are

invisible, they are ignored, and their needs are not met. For example, the black community was

not supported by the government during Hurricane Katrina because they did not implement

measures that would support them. In contrast to invisibility, the visibility of black bodies ends

with them being perceived as a threat. Rankine provides various examples of black visibility

including Serana Williams and her racists experiences on the tennis court. While black bodies

are seen as threatening, they are more often than not the victims. Both invisibility and visibility

play a role in dehumanizing black bodies.

Citizen begins with a prose poem about how black bodies are seen as invisible, which

can result in black people’s individuality and good qualities being erased while having their

needs being ignored. The poem is about a girl who is black giving her test answers to a girl who

is white. The teacher does not notice the cheating and Rankine provides several hypotheses of

why this occurs by stating, “She never actually saw you sitting there” (6). The teacher does not

pay attention to the black student in class and does not notice that she is being cheated off of.

Another reason could be that the teacher does not believe the black student is smart enough to

be cheated off of. In the quote “ these girls just think a lot alike,” the teacher believes both
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students are smart and not that the black student is providing the correct answers to the white

student (6). Rankine suggests that being invisible begins at a very young age

While the schoolgirl is made invisible and is not given acknowledgement for her

intelligence, Rankine also suggests that invisibility takes the form of interchangeability between

black bodies. A different story that begins on page 7 is about someone who was mistaken for

another black person. The subject's friend mistakenly calls them by the name of their black

maid. Rankine writes, “Eventually she stopped doing this, though she never acknowledged her

slippage” (7). The friend does not realise she mistook the black person’s name which adds insult

to injury because she never realised her mistake and apologised for making her black friends

feel like she was interchangeable.The issue is resolved but the pain of being mistaken for

another black person still remains. Rankine says,

Do you feel hurt because it’s the “all black people look the same” moment, or because

you are being confused with another after being so close to this other? (7)

The “all black people look the same” erases black people of their individuality and forces them

into the identity of one group. Their individuality is invisible and their bodies become

interchangeable to people. Rankine also uses the words”so close to this other” instead of “with

each other.” This wording suggests that the two friends were only close in proximity to each

other rather than being close as friends.

Being seen as invisible has a negative effect on someone's mentality and wellbeing. In

the previous example, the subject of the poem was hurt. Rankine further explains the

consequences of being invisible on p. 11 when she says, “They achieve themselves to death

trying to dodge the buildup of erasure.” People of color work an excess amount to avoid being
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erased or be seen as invisible. On pages 83 to 86, Rankine talks about Hurricane Katrina and its

impact on the black community. She frequently ask, “Have you seen their faces?'' (83). This is a

reference to the damage that was caused by insufficient evacuation plans and preventive

measures in poor communities that were mostly populated by black families (“Aftermath”).

Rankine says that these families were dehydrated, overheated, and lacked electricity, and a way

of communication (85). The U.S. government did not have proper protective plans for

disadvantaged and minority communities because they did not see them. Lack of recognition

can result in tragedy like Hurricane Katrina where black needs are ignored.

While being invisible because of the color of your skin can have consequences, being

visible as a black person does not bode well either. People of color cannot control the

perception of others when they are visible, and when they are perceived, it usually results in

negative stereotyping. Rankine provides an example of black bodies being visible in a public

space with her prose poem about Serena Williams. Her story is a prime example of how black

bodies are visible, but their visibility is determined by white people. On page 25, Rankine writes

“I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.” This quote is about

how each interaction can determine if a person is seen or not seen as a person of color.

When people of color are seen, it is usually concerning the color of their skin, and/or the

stereotypes linked to their race. Serena is always seen on the tennis court and shares the same

experiences and feelings as the other non-black players, however, her presence causes outrage

(26). Despite experiencing the same things any tennis player would, people are “enraged” at

Serena for being at the court (26). Rankine states that this enragement is an example of

“graphite against a sharp white background” (26). In other words, white people do not believe
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Serena belongs on the court and should make claims that the umpire is making bad calls.

Although Serena, along with other black bodies, is visible, people’s perception of her will not

change. Rankine brings up this idea when she states, “Disappointment in the sense that no

amount of visibility will alter the ways in which one is perceived” (24). The context of this quote

is about how black people will react with anger when an act of racism is committed against

them. The anger is a response to insult or an attempt to be seen; however, despite being seen,

the perception of them has not changed (24). Whether they are perceived as threatening,

complaining, etc., mere visibility will not change those opinions.

Serena is constantly seen in the public and her actions are always judged. If she acts

angry against racist actions, she is seen as childish and unprofessional. If she does not react, the

racist treatment will continue, and she will not be treated fairly. She cannot control the

perceptions about her. Rankine ends the prose poem about Serena with an image of Caroline

Wozniacki mocking Serena’s body. Rankine states “Wozniacki...finally gives the people what

they have wanted all along by embodying Serena’s attributes while leaving Serena’s ‘angry

nigger exterior’ behind” (36). “Embodying Serena’s attributes” meaning copying her black body

and “leaving Serena’s “angry nigger exterior” meaning her resistance to racism. Black bodies

are to be seen, yet not seen. Serena is put on display to be judged and/mocked but she cannot

react to it. She is to be judged by others without having any control over how people perceive

her.

Rankine points out the irony of when black people finally gain visibility, it ends with

people assuming they are a threat. On page 131-133, Rankine writes a prose poem about a

black man sitting on the subway and no one wants to sit next to him. She says “The space next
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to the man is the pause in a conversation you are suddenly rushing to fill. You step quickly over

the woman’s fear, a fear she shares. You let her have it” (131). The woman is too afraid to sit

with the black man but the “you” in the story is not. “Where he goes the space follows him”

(132). These quotes suggest that this is not the first time people have refused to sit next to him

since he is always seen as a threat in a public space.

Black bodies are often seen as threatening and Rankine provides several examples of

this perception. In another prose poem, a therapist assumes her black client is a thief. She could

not imagine the black person in her yard was a client and automatically assumed they were a

threat. It appears the woman may have had a history of theft when Rankine says, “it’s as if a

wounded Doberman pinscher or a German shepherd has gained the power of speech” (18). She

made a quick assertion that the black person in her yard had to be a thief. The woman had a

preconceived notion about black people in the same way the general public does. Media has

always portrayed black people as thieves or murderers, and this supports the racist assumption

that black people are threats. Rankine ends her book with one last story about a woman that

parked in front of the subject. She sees the subject is black and moves on the other side of the

parking lot. This is the last prose poem in the book, and it serves as a concluding thought saying

racism does not end and there is a lesson to be learned from the stories told before. It was

interesting that Rankine ended with the idea that black people were seen as threats.

As a result of the invisibility and visibility along with being perceived as threatening,

black bodies have become tired from the years of racism. Rankine describes what the body

goes through after each racist encounter. Black people feel tired, and they begin sighing.

Rankine talks about constant sighing. She describes sighing as “...is a worrying exhale of an
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ache.” Then she talks about headaches. “To your mind, feelings are what create a person,

something unwilling, something wild vandalizing what the skull holds. Those sensations form

someone.” Page 61 refers to the feelings of black people. Their feelings of anger,

disappointment, their tiredness contribute to the “headache.” Then, the “head’s ache

evaporates into a state of numbness, a cave of sighs” (62). Black people try to get their mind off

the numbing feeling that results from the aching but, as Rankine states it, sighing “...isn’t a cure

for feeling, it is a clean displacement of effort, will, and disappointment.” Sighing does not

relieve the bodies aching. It does not erase the feeling of being invisible or being seen as a

threat. The body remembers each racial encounter. Rankine says,

Yes, and the body has memory. The physical carriage hauls more than its weight. The

body is the threshold across which each objectionable call passes into consciousness- all

the unintimidated, unblinking, unflappable resilience does not erase the movements

lived through, even as we are eternally stupid or everlasting optimistic, so ready to be

inside, among, a part of the games. (28)

This quote is a reference to Serena and how she had to encounter a lot of bad callouts about

her playing. After years of being misjudged, her body remembers it all. Then Rankine describes

how Serena broke when an umpire gave her a bad call. This reference shows how the body

does not forget racism, “the body has memory,” and each act of racism tires a person down

until they break like Serena had.

Rankine tries to reassure her black readers that their aching and tiredness does not

mean they are sick but injured (143). She says, “you ache for the rest of life” (143). Then she

continues asking how a black person can feel safe in their bodies. How can they endure all the
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pain their body goes through? Then she reiterates her statement “you’re not sick, not crazy, not

angry, not sad- It’s just this, you’re injured” (145). Black bodies are not sick from racism, they

are injured by it.

The Turner painting in the end was very graphic imagery of when a slave ship threw

slaves overboard during a storm. The painting shows how invaluable black lives were to the

slave traders. The imagery shows black bodies being eaten by fish. The painting is an example of

how black lives are invisible and unimportant. It also shows the hardships and pain the black

body has to undergo. The painting was a way of concluding the final thoughts and serves as

imagery for the prose poems. Black bodies are invisible and insignificant and if they were to be

visible, they would be judged by others' preconceived notions about them. Visibility for black

bodies is determined by the white gaze and other racist stereotypes against them. Years of

enduring racism the body tires and it aches. The bodies in Turner’s painting were drowning, like

the way black bodies are under the weight of racism.

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Works Cited

“Aftermath of Katrina: A Time of Environmental Racism.” ESRI,

www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?
appid=2106693b39454f0eb0abc5c2ddf9ce40.
Rankine, Claudia. Citizen: an American Lyric. Penguin Books, 2015.