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Rain

It starts as a single drop of rain. Just a minor annoyance that’s easy to disregard. You even laugh along yourself to show you’re a good sport.

Man up. Stop being a pussy. Grow some balls. You throw like a girl.

You’re pretty for a black girl, can I touch your curls? Are you from the hood?

You’re English is soo good.  

Over the years the rain accumulates and it becomes a powerful surge.

Being gay is just a trend. Oh my god, I need a gay best friend.

Don’t be such a greedy Jew. Don’t you guys control the news?

Eventually the dam holding back the water begins to crumble and one more drop  of rain is all it takes for you to drown in the flood.

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This quote is humorous but also addresses a real problem in society where people are unwilling to acknowledge their own prejudices. In the context of “Dear White people” race is being discussed but it can be expanded to include sexuality, gender, class etc. Just because you have a friend of a certain demographic does not mean you understand all of their experiences or have a pass to say ignorant statements.

Dear white people, the minimum requirement of black friends needed to not seem racist has just been raised to two. Sorry, but your weed man, Tyrone, does not count.-Sam White, Dear White People.

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You take in things you don’t want all the time. The second you hear or see some ordinary moment, all its intended targets, all the meanings behind the retreating seconds, as far as you are able to see, come to focus. Hold up, did you just hear, did you just say, did you just see, did you just do that? Then the voice in your head silently tells you to take your foot off your throat because just getting along shouldn’t be ambition.

Rankine, Citizen (via ross-george)

In my opinion “Citizen” does a great job of demonstrating how microagressions function and how they affect the victim. This quote shows how microagressions are incremental in nature and how the person being affected is forced to question themselves. Is it valid for me to get offended? Why does this comment or interaction upset me? Do I fulfill or defy the ideas that are being presented? Should I say something to the person and if I do how will this make me look? Rankine seems to advocate speaking up or confronting these aggressions because that is more important than simply maintaining cordial relationships. 

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Although John Oliver employed humor and exaggerations while discussing the American criminal justice system there is startling empirical evidence to support his assertions. For example, blacks and whites use drugs at virtually the same rate yet the incarceration rates for blacks is much higher for the same offenses. Incarceration devastates communities by separating children from parents and making it almost impossible for an ex-drug offender to find a decent job after being released. 

“If you’re white in Ferguson, you would need to be snorting cocaine directly off your dashboard to get stopped by the police. Whereas, if you’re an African-American citizen, you might have a slightly different experience.”

-Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

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We followed you blindly for thousands of years, you’d think the least God could do is show up for New Years Eve 1999

“Are you there God? It’s me, Jesus” , Episode 16, Season 3, South Park 

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Jesus never said wait never pointed to the sky never claimed he’d rise again never asked us to eat his flesh jesus never asked anything as far as I can tell he got tired everyday & then slept sometimes okay sometimes un- bearable, the dreams, the father pointing a finger at everyone a finger we can’t even look at.

“Jesus Knew”, Flynn

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I couldn’t love a man so purely Even prophets forgave his crooked way I’ve learned love is like a brick you can Build a house or sink a dead body

“Judas”- Lady Gaga

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You are in the dark, in the car, watching the black-tarred street being swallowed by speed; he tells you his dean is making him hire a person of color when there are so many great writers out there. You think maybe this is an experiment and you are being tested or retroactively insulted or you have done something that communicates this is an okay conversation to be having. Why do you feel okay saying this to me? You wish the light would turn red or a police siren would go off so you could slam on the brakes, slam into the car ahead of you, be propelled forward so quickly both your faces would suddenly be exposed to the wind.

Claudia Rankine, “Citizen” 

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I think so. I think words are the thing that either triumphs for you, in your desire to communicate something, or fails. I love language because when it succeeds, for me, it doesn’t just tell me something. It enacts something. It creates something. And it goes both ways. Sometimes it’s violent. Sometimes it hurts you. And sometimes it saves you. Poetry has no investment in anything besides openness. It’s not arguing a point. It’s creating an environment.

Claudia Rankine during an interview with Meara Sharma, Blackness as the second person

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Just because I have good hair and a degree of sophistication doesn't make me a traitor to my race.

Coco,”Dear White People” 

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As we discussed in class in this poem we observe someone from outside of the black community trying to define what constitutes “blackness”. This debate over authenticity also occurs between people who are members of the same community. For example, sometimes black people who adhere to certain social norms are criticized as being “whitewashed” or “Uncle Tom’s” by other members of the black community. Authenticity is not limited to just race. Gay men are often portrayed as flamboyant or effeminate and when gay men  do not fit into this category they are automatically assumed to be heterosexual (aka not authentically gay). This raises the question how did cartoonish stereotypes come to be the standard of “authenticity” for entire races and sexual orientations? 

“You think 50 Cent reads? Allen Iverson? What you ought to do is put some of your people’s streets in that L.L. Bean satchel. Trick that thing out. Because you are not funky. I mean, I’ve seen you dance. What does your Hegel say about funk? Your Du Bois (pronounced Du BWAH)? See, I only date hood. My last man? He never even met his father. Four women, six kids. Three of whom are named after luxury cars.” - Ross Gay

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come: i am greasy for you. i slick my hair with msg every morning. i’m bad for you. got some red-light district between your teeth. what does it taste like: a takeout box between my legs. plastic bag lady. flimsy white fork to snap in half. dispose of me.

To The Man who Shouted “I like Pork Fried Rice” at me on the Street, Franny Choi

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It seems we living the american dream But the people highest up got the lowest self esteem The prettiest people do the ugliest things For the road to riches and diamond rings We shine because they hate us, floss cause they degrade us We trying to buy back our 40 acres And for that paper, look how low we a'stoop Even if you in a Benz, you still a nigga in a coop/coupe

All Falls Down, Kanye West

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See, I only date hood. My last man? He never even met his father. Four women, six kids. Three of whom are named after luxury cars. Child support? Do you know anything about your people?

Instructions On Black Masculinity, Ross Gay

[tvdonadio-blog]

This statement shows the importance of the space in which conversations are had as well as the difference between intra-group vs. inter-group dialogue. Furthermore it demonstrates that everyday people can have significant conversations in an informal manner and that these conversations are just as valid as those spurred by well-known institutions and organizational figureheads.

“In our kitchen-talk, porch-talk, stoop-talk, shop-talk, we say a lot of things that most white folks rarely hear because in these spaces we can be just a little more free or, at least, we face our own judgments of each other…” –Richael Faithful “#blacklivesmatter kitchen talk”