Citizen: An American Lyric and Systemic Racism

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Throughout American History, the demonstration of democracy, freedom, opportunity, and prosperity has been dominated by whites, particularly through the deliberate oppression and exclusion of the racial minorities. The ethnic and racial injustices witnessed today are a result of structural racism. This systemic vice is ingrained in every aspect of society, including policies and practices used in public and private institutions such as schools and government agencies. People of color, specifically those of black origin, are at the receiving end of the negative repercussions of this kind of racism. Consequently, in the book Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankin seeks to expose the horrid experiences African Americans go through due to the current and historical norms, practices, and policies that uphold white supremacy.

Citizen: An American Lyric was selected as the subject of the topic’s analysis because it has exceptional attributes that relate to the subject matter. First, the literature was a New York Times Bestseller in 2015 and also won other awards such as the NAACP Image Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award in the same year. These achievements show how well the book was received and the magnitude of its influence within and outside America. Secondly, Claudia Rankin is an American author, poet, playwright, and essayist who has written numerous works. The fact that she is an experienced writer whose publications are appreciated all over the world makes the book credible. Furthermore, she is an African American who has, for a long time, fought for the rights of racial minorities through her poems. Consequently, Rankin’s narration is instrumental in studying systemic racism and its impacts on America.

Citizen: An American Lyric narrates various racial prejudices experienced by American citizens in the 21^st century. Rankin combines several writing techniques, including images, poetry, and prose, to paint an infuriating picture of the blacks’ experience and negative ethnicity in the purported post-racial American era. The book uses the experiences of common figures in the country to expose the nature of systemic racism in homes, schools, entertainment joints, sports, online, and on television (Rankin 12). In essence, the primary objective of the author is to trigger the readers’ thoughts towards the devastating racism situation in America and the world in general. Rankin illustrates how the current state of the region is causing stress among African Americans and how the community is struggling to lead meaningful lives as a result.

Citizen: An American Lyric comprises seven chapters, and each one of them utilizes different verbal approaches mixing prose, poetry, essay, and integrating components of artwork and imagery. The first chapter is in the second person and gives an overview of the micro-aggressions experienced by people of color. The second chapter incorporates the sentiments of Hennessy Youngman, a YouTube character on black musicians, and the racial encounters Serena Williams has gone through (Rankin 34). Chapter three focuses more on the adverse implications of systemic racism and the role of the racist language in creating ethnic divisions. The fourth chapter is quite different as it elaborates more on the components of language and how it relates to memory. Chapter five is written in the form of a poem and speaks further about micro-aggressions. The sixth chapter comprises scripts for videos that expose racially-charged trauma such as the shootings of James Craig and Trayvon Martin and incidences of racial violence outside the U.S., including the 2011 U.K. riots. Finally, chapter seven is a meditation on racism and how it relates to language and the body.

The genre selected by Claudia Rankin is deliberate because her goal is to encourage people to think about racism critically. Consequently, Citizen: An American Lyric uses a non-fictitious approach to narrate the real-life experiences of various racial victims. The genre is a combination of narrative, expository, and persuasive writing techniques. For instance, the scripts of the videos are narrated to help the reader visualize the sequence of events. Similarly, the stories of Serena Williams and the citizens’ experiences expose the rotten nature of systemic racism (Rankin 40). In the last chapter, the author invites the reader to reflect on the contents of the initial pages to persuade him or her to rethink the post-racial era. All these methods are crucial to attracting the audience’s attention to the subject matter.

The nonfiction approach chosen by Claudia Rankin is typical of the African American literature written in the past centuries. The origin of black texts can be traced back to the late 18^th century in North America and was meant to fight against England’s mistreatment of people of color. The objective of the antebellum writings was to demonstrate that everyone is equal and demand that Black Americans be served with the same human rights declared by whites (Ferguson et al.). The authors preached the Christian gospel of brotherhood to push for social justice. Claudia Rankin bears the same motivation, and this is depicted in all her publications, Citizen: An American Lyric included. She intends to sensitize Americans that the war against racism is not over and that it has taken a new form that is hard to fight.

Furthermore, Citizen: An American Lyric integrates poetry, a technique that has been used extensively in African American literature. Phyllis Wheatley is an example of an African-born slave who wrote various poems on freedom while in Boston in 1773 (Ferguson et al.). Similarly, the first book written by an African American is Negros, Black as Cain, and was published to substantiate that blacks and whites are spiritual equals. Consequently, several black Americans, including Claudia Rankin, have maintained the practice by writing similar content to date. The nonfiction genre suits the black activist’s themes since it allows for narration, exposition, and persuasion.

Thematic concerns are used by authors to expound on the message of the text, and Claudia Rankins has used relatable themes to demonstrate her worries about America’s post-racial crisis. Bigotry is the first subject matter the author addresses throughout the book by expounding on a type of racism that has become a part of everyday life. A prejudice that results from skin color is difficult to manage in various parts of America because most people deny its existence (Ferguson et al.). Claudia narrates the protagonist’s bigotry experience while interacting with white individuals. She describes how whites dismiss their unexamined biases by saying insensitive and racist words to the black woman without fear or shame. In most incidences, this reaction is subconscious because they have not experienced discrimination as the racial minorities have, for most of their lives. White people have convinced themselves that the world is utopian and that racism is inexistent. It is this assumption that provides room for prejudice at a time that people think that the entire American region has embraced racial equality.

Identity is another significant theme Claudia reflects on in the book. One of the impacts of racism is that it complicates the processes of constructing a sense of self. For instance, racial minorities are always treated as invisible, and this is demonstrated in schools and workplaces. The characteristics of policies in institutions have made people of color look inferior to whites. Furthermore, the author expounds on the theme by stating that the protagonist is distressed by the fact that racists never recognize black people by overlooking their physical presence and undermining their worth. Despite the struggles to understand oneself, people of color have managed to excel in various platforms, such as Barack Obama in leadership and politics and Serena Williams in the world of sports (Evans et al. 275). Claudia Rankin attributes these successes to the change of attitude toward invisibility. Instead of being invisible among racists, blacks have shifted to being hyper-visible in the presence of the white majority. Everybody needs to feel appreciated and recognized, but systemic racism makes it difficult for people of color to be acknowledged for their achievements.

Claudia Rankin also discusses emotional processing experienced by African Americans as a result of micro-aggressions. Small and frequent instances of biases among people of color often accumulate and lead to anger. Unfortunately, they are expected to let go without an avenue to express their feelings or an opportunity to respond. Since discrimination is a problem blacks cannot escape, they have been forced to develop means to deal with incidences of bigotry (Rankin 50). However, Citizen: An American Lyric points out that even if the victims manage to process these emotions, the damage has already been done. Racial minorities are forced to endure the pain caused by racism to control their anger. The fact that African Americans are unable to visibly fight for their place within various systems does not mean racism is absent. They are suffering in silence.

Citizen: An American Lyric themes are experiences everyone can relate to not only through experience but also from watching them happen. Consequently, the issues make sense because of the approach Rankin uses to identify them. She uses the second-person tense “you” as the protagonist throughout the book so that the audience can assume the main character’s position, which is a black woman. Therefore, readers start to empathize and sympathize with racism and discrimination victims because they can relate to their experiences. Furthermore, the author’s choice of the nonfiction genre was crucial in covering the thematic concerns of the book.

She could have used a fictitious approach and employed imagery and other literary devices to pass her message, but instead, she took a direct approach. Claudia’s writing plan was to give factual information on what is happening in the world today (Rankin 63). Countries in Europe and America are convinced that they are winning the battle against racism, but far from it, the problem is engraved in policies, practices, and norms. No other approach would pass the message better than the author’s strategy in using simple words and real-life experiences everyone can understand. However, using a variety of examples, not only from famous people in America, would make the message more practical.

Citizen: An American Lyric fits into African American literature because of the similarity in characteristics. Aside from the fact that the publications in this category are written by blacks, they share thematic concerns. Racism is one issue that has been addressed in most African American books that Claudia builds on in her text. Her focus is on the impacts of discrimination and the struggles racial minorities go through daily due to bigotry. Negative ethnicity has not changed because skin color has not either. African Americans as still viewed as inferior for something they cannot change. Additionally, social inequality is the other concern that relates to invisibility, as discussed in the book. Although blacks are humans with the same abilities as whites, they have to work harder to access employment and learning opportunities. African American literature is also meant to give blacks hope, and Claudia uses examples of common figures who have made it amidst racism. Such stories remind racial minorities that the solution to being treated as invisible is a change in attitude.

Besides the African American literature, there are three texts studied in the semester that also correlate with Citizen: An American Lyric. In Barack Obama’s Speech on Race, the former president mentions that “segregated schools were and are inferior schools,” explaining that there is a gap between black and white student admissions (NPR). Giving African American children fewer opportunities in learning institutions leads to invisibility, as identified by Claudia Rankin. Similarly, The New Negro by Alain Locke relates to Rankin’s book by describing how blacks used Negro spirituals to express the shame they felt due to stereotyping. Citizen also mentions the embarrassment blacks experience today and the emotional processes they go through to handle their anger. Finally, The Souls of Black Folk represents W.E.B. Du Bois’s thoughts are in the form of poetry. The poet compares the experiences of Negros to those of the Israelites because they both hoped for freedom and a better future (Du Bois). Likewise, Rankin uses successful African Americans to give hope to victims of racism.

The African American community is at the center of Citizen: An American Lyric. The main struggle of the group is emotional torture due to prejudice in a world that people assume racism in America is decreasing. Nobody deserves to be treated unfairly because of their skin color, and, unfortunately, blacks have stand humiliation and segregation because of something they cannot change. They are forced to work twice as much to succeed in an environment that is full of racists. Nonetheless, the strength of African Americans lies in their persistence and solidarity in standing for their rights, which has been demonstrated by black leaders and heroes through time, from Martin Luther to President Barack Obama. Furthermore, their joys lie in the history of their forefathers who fought against slavery and championed equality they are experiencing today, even though in small measures.

Throughout Citizen: An American Lyric, one idea that stands out is the resilience of the African American community. Although blacks are subjects of oppression and discrimination, they still manage to stand out in different facets of life. Their ability to manage the emotional process and rise amidst racism is crucial to their survival. The number of police brutality cases against racial minorities and those of black killings keeps increasing every day. George Floyd’s killing is an example of improper criminal profiling racial minorities go through even when they have not committed any offense. However, the unity among the blacks in fighting for their rights led to the development of the “Black Lives Matter” campaign that has been embraced by institutions all over the world. The fighting spirit of African Americans that led to slavery abolishment in the 19^th century is still instrumental in pushing for equality not only for blacks but for other racial minority communities too.

Racism is a societal problem that has proven difficult to manage in America and other parts of the world. Even though the election of President Barack Obama in 2008 signified a post-racial era, the fight against negative ethnicity and discrimination due to skin color is far from over. The origin of the vice is not the people but the systems that will take a long time to change. The policies, practices, and norms in homes, schools, workplaces and government offices are the hubs of racial inequality. Citizen: An American Lyric is a nonfiction book written by Claudia Rankin, an African American author, and poet. In the book, she incorporates poetry, prose, and images in conveying her messages. Throughout the text, the author attempts to make the point that America is not in the post-racial era yet. She uses second-person tense to draw the audience into the contents of the text. Furthermore, she uses famous individuals such as Serena Williams to narrate and expose the emotional sufferings African Americans experience due to micro-aggressions.

Works Cited

Du Bois, W. E. B. “The Souls Of Black Folk”.Gutenberg, 2019, Web.

Evans, Michele K. et al. “Diagnosing And Treating Systemic Racism”. New England Journal Of Medicine, vol 383, no. 3, 2020, pp. 274–276. Massachusetts Medical Society, Web.

Ferguson, Roderick A. et al. “Reconsidering Claudia Rankine’S Citizen: An American Lyric. A Symposium, Part I – Los Angeles Review Of Books”.Los Angeles Review Of Books, 2016, Web.

Locke, Alain, editor. The New Negro. Touchstone, 1997.

NPR. “Transcript: Barack Obama’s Speech On Race”.NPR, 2008, Web.

Rankin, Claudia. Citizen: An American Lyric. Graywolf Press, 2014.

Click Here To Order Now!

Citizen: An American Lyric and Systemic Racism

Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?

We have qualified writers to help you.

We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.

You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)