Rhetorical Analysis of Claudia Rankine “Citizen”: What brought about the title of the book?

Citizen means a person who is a legally recognized member of a particular nation who is entitled to the benefits that are tied to being a legal member of that nation. The formal and recognized meaning of a citizen is a legally recognized subject or national of a state or commonwealth, either native (by birth) or through naturalization—also, an inhabitant of a particular town or city. “Citizen| is a very provocative meditation on race. It is the embodiment of boldly discussing mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in the twenty-first-century everyday life and in the media. “Citizen” explains that some slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and intentional offensives are widespread. A Black person is most likely to be affected when there are many different places of operation such as work, online, on electronic devices, and in the pitch for Black persons that are actively involved in professional sports such as Serena Williams (Rankine). The effect of racial aggressions, as seen, is that they curtail the freedom of speech, which makes it impossible for them to speak against it. In this case, speech points to the reality that the addressability of the issues that one experiences is validated by the state of belonging of an individual. In the essay, image and poetry aid in the “Citizen” being a testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in a contemporary postrace society.

Logos

The logic behind “Citizen: An American Lyric” is the subject of race and its aggressions as depicted in contemporary society. Claudia, in what she refers to as an attempt to “pull the lyric back into its realities,” the realities, in this case, are the everyday acts of racism that a Black person is subjected to. It is present in the remarks that white people make, their glances, implied just that represent the explicit acts of discrimination that have been outlawed. Claudia is surprised that America considers itself as flourishing under the confines of equality and non-discrimination when the very actions of its citizens, especially those that consider themselves as privileged members of society (Adams). Those that outrightly qualify and consider themselves true members of society and do not have to prove their sense of belonging continue to undermine and ridicule the very existence of their Black brothers and sisters in America. Under what this essay would refer to as the ‘white supremacy’ concept, whites continue to believe that they are better off than their Black brothers and, as such, are more deserving of the ‘citizen’ title because their existence is not corrupted in any way by the color of their skin or their origin. When it comes to tackling the issue of race, Claudia insists on the need to seek to corroborate any available information regarding the same and cease taking things at second and third hand. Further, it is important to be the neutral party in a conflict that consolidates efforts to ensure that all the conflicting parties are listened to. Then one incorporates their perspective before acting.

Ethos

In “Citizen,” Claudia perceives a citizen as being the “self-self” and the “historical self,” which she uses to challenge the sense of understanding of the readers of the poem with regard to the “territory,” which as she explains, is a natural territory as the exclusively personal outside the scope of politics. The poem recounts the string of racist incidences that Rankine and her friends experienced, which she relays in the second person. She claims that there are times when her friends would joking refer to her as a “nappy-headed ho” as a remark to her showing up late to a date or a stranger’s reference of energetic teenagers at Starbucks as niggers, “a stranger wonders why you care that “he has just referred to the boisterous teenagers in Starbucks as niggers”. Other examples of racist remarks include an incident where one is standing outside a conference room prior to a meeting, and one of their colleagues tells another that “being around Black people is like watching a foreign film with translation or subtitles.” Such remarks lead to a shock of confrontation.

Pathos

Claudia taps into the emotions of her readers by giving her personal real-time experiences with racial aggression. In order to make her readers understand what it feels like to be a Black person in American society, Claudia gives examples of the racist or discriminatory remarks which turns out that every other Black person has experienced such kind of treatment one too many times in their lifetime, thus making it a relatable experience. Besides, the tank into which past moments empty has started to back up and overflow. One common thing across all the mentioned aggressions of racism is that Blacks are considered undeserving and qualify as subjects for oppression and maltreatment. Any actions tied to success when committed by a Black person are downplayed, and there are always efforts to try and mar it with non-existent bad or aspects of failure or finding reason as to why Black people are not deserving of it in the first place. White supremacy dictates that they remain at the bottom of the social and racial ladder and continue to execute their subject destiny accurately. “Citizen” opens with a powering down of all “devices”- the buzzing of phones and glaring of screens that distract the self from its scrutiny to buy some bandwidth for reflection, “When you are alone and too tired even to turn on any of your devices, you let yourself linger in the past stacked among your pillows. Usually you are nestled under blankets, and the house is empty”.

Kairos

Claudia pushes the reader to reconstruct their memories as metaphors, especially those of their childhood, and remarks that when this happens, one fills in all the meanings assigned to them later on in their life when they have full knowledge of what was really happening and what the remarks intended to do. She points out to a particular scenario, “the first time around, you’re busy dealing with the girl in a Catholic school with “waist-length brown hair” who asks to cheat of your exams, and the clueless nun who never notices,” the whole exchange is racial and sets the premise for future degradations, “When you are alone and too tired even to turn on any of your devices, you let yourself linger in a past stacked among your pillows. Usually you are nestled under blankets, and the house is empty”. “Citizen” is very timely, especially in the wake of renewed uproar by Blacks who feel that postrace America that likes to associate itself with equality of the races is a fallacy, when its members, those who consider themselves ‘rightful” continue treating Blacks with contempt and a derogatory attitude (Chiasson). “Citizen” is about the grownup ways in which this childhood scene gets replayed, the white cheat always backed by white institutions. It is an incredibly vital book for this moment in time.

Works Cited

Adams, Bella. “Black Lives/White Backgrounds: Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric and Critical Race Theory.” Comparative American Studies An International Journal 15.1-2 (2017): 54-71.

Chiasson, Dan. “Color Codes: A poet examines race in America.” 20 October 2014. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/27/color-codes. 6 November 2020.

Rankine, Claudia. Citizen: An American Lyric.