Racism in Literature

 Photo by Kate Clark entitled “Little Girl”

By Katie Goodman, Stephanie Kranenberg, Colleen Cousins

The definition of racism has changed drastically until becoming what it is known as today. Race is associated with a negative connotation, however it was not always that way. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, race in the early sixteenth century was defined as “A group of people, animals, or plants, connected by common descent or origin” and later as “A group of people belonging to the same family and descended from a common ancestor; a house, family, kindred.” This definition has nothing to do with the color of one’s skin. In the sixteenth century the word race had not even included a target at skin color and ethnic backgrounds. This target is a direct result of the formation of racism. It is essential to know how the definition of racism has changed over time when reading literature. Racism has been discussed in many texts over the course of the semester, such as Citizen by Claudia Rankine. Through this essay we will see the changes racism has gone through and how to apply these definitions when reading literature.

The word race became a topic in the late 1770’s by the famous German physiologist/ anthropologist J. F. Blumenbach, (Bhopal). Blumenbach had studied the concept of race through the skeletal brain and stature and skin color of human beings. He categorized the human species into 5 “variations”: Caucasian, Mongolians, Ethiopians, Americans, and Malays. Each variation showed differences in the cranial skeleton and skin color. Blumbach had stated differences in skin color were caused by the effects of environmental factors “Blumenbach attributed differences between these human types—such as variations in stature and colour—largely to climate…. Colour, he said, cannot constitute a species or a variety” (Bhopal). He did not aim to create racism, however, it was a byproduct of his 5 classifications. “Blumenbach’s name has been associated with scientific racism, but his arguments actually undermined racism. These errors were not the result of colour prejudice. Blumenbach refuted the notion that Ethiopians were inferior to other races. Blumenbach wrote favourably about ‘negroes,’ extolling their beauty, mental abilities, and achievements in literature and other fields.” (Bhopal).

The coming of racism after Blumenbach’s publications came out, ultimately created the racist ideal in today’s society, as well as the idea that race is “only a simple two-term distinction (such as ‘black’ and ‘white’)” (OED). We jump forward to a more recent definition of racism from 1940, the Oxford English Dictionary defined racism as, “A belief that one’s own racial or ethnic group is superior, or that other such groups represent a threat to one’s cultural identity, racial integrity, or economic well-being” Racism is also identified as “a belief that the members of different racial or ethnic groups possess specific characteristics, abilities, or qualities, which can be compared and evaluated. Hence: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against people of other racial or ethnic groups.”The examples of these definitions illustrate the drastic changes from the original “race” definition. The word race in the 16th century referred to plants, animals, or humans with a common origin or kindred, however now in the 1940’s there is a direct target at comparing racial or ethnic groups. Over time the definition grew to bring one ethnic group more superior than another, and form discrimination that people don’t realize is created. Throughout many literary texts, racism seems to be evident.

More people are becoming aware of racism and what it means as time goes on, therefore it is becoming easier to recognize in literature. If we are aware of race, and how it impacts other people’s lives, we can better understand what  specific characters are going through, as well as take a closer look at their experiences. If we inform ourselves on racism, we can look at the complexity of their lives and try to grasp what it may be like to be in their shoes. Literature allows us to look at racism through a different lense,  in a way we wouldn’t think about ourselves. Sometimes our outside knowledge of race allows us to go deeper into the meaning and get something out of it that was not intended. Different developments allow us to move past that racism, but in literature it stays in one time period; when it was written. We need to understand what they may have meant.

Being able to look at how race affects a character is a way for us to understand the complexity of race in a text. In Citizen, Claudia Rankine gives different examples describing how racism affected different people. One of these examples shows someone being racially profiled and how “still you are not the guy and still you fit the description because there is only one guy who is always the guy fitting the description” (Rankine 109). Many African American people experience racial profiling when being confronted by the police. This is most common with men, since according to some they are “always the guy fitting the description” (Rankine 109). Texts like Citizen raise awareness for these issues and can hopefully help people come up with a solution.  

In a talk at Yale University, Rankine describes Citizen as pointing out “what it means to be an American … who gets to participate and who falls out.” Taken from the stories and experiences from her own life, as well as her friends, she states that “Citizen” focuses on stories she has collected from friends, it details “day-to-day microaggressions” experienced by people of color in spaces “dominated by whiteness,” she said.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines microaggression as “A statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination or prejudice against members of a marginalized group such as a racial minority. Also as a mass noun: this behaviour generally” (OED).

Throughout Citizen, Rankine provides detailed accounts of what she has experienced. Two experiences in particular stand out to me in the novel. As a young girl, Rankine would experience these microaggressions. At 12 years old, she is told that she “[has] features like a white person” by another young (white) girl in her class (Rankine 5). As a child, Rankine does not know how to interpret this, so sadly enough, she understands it as a thank you in return for letting this girl cheat off of her test (Rankine 5). These are the things running through the minds of a 12 year old white girl. And Claudia, unable to detect the blatant racism, received this as a thank you. The second example of a microaggression is when Rankine is sitting on a plane and a young girl tries to take ownership of the seats on the plane, stating, “these are our seats” while the look on her face gives way to how she really feels– she really does not want to sit next to an African American woman on the plane (Citizen 12). The mother, clearly sensing her daughter’s uncomfort, does not correct her actions, but condones them by saying that she’ll “sit in the middle” so that her daughter doesn’t have to sit next to this woman (Citizen 12). Although the young girl does not necessarily know any better, it is clear that she already has a racist mindset, and her mother simply enables it. These microaggressions, whether intentional or not, deeply impact Rankine, and it can be seen in her writing. By pointing out what it means to be an American, Rankine is focusing on what it means to be black in America; Rankine anchors in on the microaggressions in Citizen to show “who falls out” in society: black people in America.

Claudia Rankine includes multiple scenes of racist accounts in Citizen. Throughout the book, we are thrown into different occasions where Rankine herself has had first hand experiences of race. Rankine’s use of the word “you” makes the reader feel as if they are present in every situation exposed in the novel. In another example of racism, Rankine meets with a new therapist in a beginning scene and is cruelly roared at when meeting her, “The woman standing there yells, at the top of her lungs, Get away from my house! What are you doing in my yard?…And though you backup a few steps, you manage to tell her you have an appointment. You have an appointment? She spits back. Then she pauses. Everything pauses. Oh, she says, followed by, oh, yes, that’s right. I am sorry.” (Rankine). People usually react like this to an unwanted child in their yard or and unwanted animal. In this scene Rankine is demoted to this unwanted animal as illustrated on the next page of the novel and at the top of this essay. The picture depicts an animal, looking like a small deer like animal that seems helpless, sad, and uncomfortable. The image was created by Kate Clark, titled “Little Girl” and the description includes “infant caribou hide, foam, clay, pins, thread, rubber eyes”(Rankine 364). The animal is not centered on the page it is located at the bottom of the page with a large white background. This continues with being thrown against a white background continually talked about by Rankine. Rankine was seen as an unwanted visitor on her therapist’s lawn due to the color of her skin. However, the animal can also be perceived differently then this. This creature could represent the therapist barking at Rankine in her backyard. The therapist acts like a violent animal protecting herself from a predator, even though Rankine is clearly not a predator.  

The examples that Claudia Rankine provides in Citizen help us to better understand racism, as well as all of the microaggressions that come with it. Reading Citizen forces us, as readers, to become aware of what is truly going on around us, thus allowing the readers to better understand how racism can affect one’s life. The definitions of race and racism have changed exponentially in the past centuries. Society has grown a lot over time, however, we have grown in the wrong direction in regards to humanity and race. Humans have divided themselves by color, but now is the time to be aware through literature and recognize what’s going on.

Works Cited

Bhopal, Raj. “The beautiful skull and Blumenbach’s errors: the birth of the scientific concept of race.” BMJ (Clinical research ed.) vol. 335,7633 (2007): 1308-9. doi:10.1136/bmj.39413.463958.80

Gonzalez, Susan. “Poet Claudia Rankine Speaks about Confronting Racism Head on in Her Writing.” YaleNews, 13 Mar. 2018, news.yale.edu/2018/03/12/poet-claudia-rankine-speaks-about-confronting-racism-head-her-writing.

“Racism.” Oxford English Dictionary, OED Third Edition, 2008, www.oed.com/.

Rankine, Claudia, and Stephen Sachs. Citizen: an American Lyric. Dramatists Play Service Inc., 2018.

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