Citizen: An American Lyric

by Claudia Rankine

“I’m very angry and bitter right now. I felt cheated. Shall I go on? I just feel robbed.

As offensive as her outburst is, it is difficult not to applaud her for reacting immediately to being thrown against a sharp white background.

Perhaps this is how racism feels no matter the context—randomly the rules everyone else gets to play by no longer apply to you, and to call this out by calling out “I swear to God!” is to be called insane,

After her three-second celebratory dance

just the ball going back and forth.

I was expected on court, I grabbed my racket.