A Closer Look at Citizen (X2)

Mohema Hussain, Admir Kasneci,Wesley Hoa, Lucas Fee

Presentation Explanation: For our presentation, we decided to create text message conversations based on the events described in the book, “Citizen: An American Lyric” by Claudia Rankine. The book is a mixture of different writing styles, including poems, interviews, information, etc. The book focuses on racial relations within the United States. It was published in 2014, but includes events from different years and eras in the narrator’s life. Through text message conversations, we hope to portray the deeper meaning behind the writings shared in the book, such as underlying themes and metaphors

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Kyle Kovacs, Ashley Shukman, Evan Zhou 

Citizen: An American Lyric Walkthrough: The book-length poem Citizen: An American Lyric by Clauida Rankine highlights personal and historical experiences of African American indivduals consistently facing microaggressions in a world considered “post-racial”. The book consists of seven poetic sections accompanied by images of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and screen grabs. The poem is broken up into multiple chapters each showing personal and media produced examples of how racism and microaggression exists in the 21st century. In the beginning, Rankine focuses on microaggressions aimed at 'you', the unimagined narrator, she uses 2nd person pronouns in order to get the reader emotionally involved within each experience. Because there is a change of point of view, the reader can feel emotions based on their personal reaction with being involved in each scenario. For example, in the scenario with the airplane, the reader images themselves sitting in the row and being approached by a woman and her child. Based on their interaction of disappointment of their seats and the mother making sure she sits next to the narrator, the reader is able to assume the mother’s uncomfortableness and can feel angered and hurt. By creating this switch in perspervie, it reveals the micro-aggression which takes place in society and allows for the reader to experience the problems African American citizens face in everyday life. In the book, both sighing and tennis can be considered a symbol. The sigh represents a disadvantaged disposition to the world. It seems more upsetting than using moan, which is a more acceptable means of communicating sadness in society. For each sigh, the world responds with "stop that," and yet the narrator continues to sigh (71) which reminds the emotional experience of the narrator to the audience. On the other hand, Tennis is represented as the black’s experience in the world. It was initially brought about by describing racial incidents in the career of tennis-player, Serena Williams, which reveal the dark side of the sport to readers. For example, the line judges observe and address Serena's black body, and the whole complex seems to reject her presence. Fouls are called when they are not deserved, and emotions are kept inside at other times. It allows the readers to experience the problems that African Americans are facing. Coming to court is the same as taking on America's racial problem. Rankine’s ability to portray the modern African American’s life living in a state of consistent injustice both creatively and persuasively highlights the dualistic nature of living life as a black American. That is, one’s life lived in a multitude of normalized spheres. Some stem intra-culturally within black communities and some of which extend into grander societal norms that they must conform with, (American society as a whole). It’s necessary to understand the implications of alienation upon populations, Rankine argues. The need to bring issues to light not only using intricate writing styles but also through vivid imagery paints a vibrant flag of dire action, that is action to duly and justly support an integral part of American society. Stories have previously portrayed life of the black American through normalized stylistic choices, yet Rankine notes the back and forth tennis battle for equality that these individuals strive for on a daily basis complemented with sighs and a lack of individualistic identity for people at whole, creating voices that come from seemingly nowhere, but escape the void long enough to tell their stories collectively. 

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COVID-19, a Rupture in Time

Throughout a person’s lifetime, huge cultural shifts can occur in the community that they live in. In fact, each decade can even have its own personality. Whether we are discussing the 1920s, the 1970s, or the 1990s, we can associate certain cultural traits to each era. These shifts can take place naturally, or they can be driven by a single event; a rupture.

These historical ruptures are typically a single event that steers a massive cultural shift. Past examples of this are the Great Depression, World War II, 9/11, etc. The cultural transformation that followed each of these events subtly transformed day to day life into what it is for us now.

The characters in the film, “The Big Lebowski,” portray what these cultural ruptures do to the daily lives of people. In their case, the cultural rupture was the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Two characters in specific exemplify this the most; Walter and The Dude. Walter is an obvious product of the Vietnam War. His actions are brash, aggressive, and quite frankly, they are dangerous. He lives his day to day life, half in California and half in Vietnam. The war will always be on Walter’s mind and will forever dictate how he acts. The Dude was also greatly affected by the Vietnam War, but to the opposite effect that it had on Walter. The Dude became a pacifist who embodied the essence of a war protestor in the 1960s. His laid-back and nonchalant demeanor is due to his views on the decisions of the United States Government at the time. Both of these characters adopted personality traits due to the “rupture” in their lives.

Looking back at all of these ruptures in time, we must ask ourselves if the COVID-19 pandemic is a rupture. We can’t know this yet, but it absolutely has the potential to be one. The radical change to people’s lifestyles, the trauma it is causing some families, and the general fear that it incites leads me to believe that this will be one of those ruptures that defines a decade. I think that culturally in America, there will become a stigma towards people who aren’t extremely cautious when it comes to spreading germs. Gone are the days of walking over to a friend's apartment and touring surfaces without washing your hands. I think that we might start to wear masks more regularly than before. Detailed in an article by The Atlantic, they state that it has become a sign of civic responsibility to wear face masks in Eastern Asia since the pneumonic plague in 1910. I think that wearing masks in public could become a cultural norm in America.

By Max Balanevsky

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/america-asia-face-mask-coronavirus/609283/

The Formerly Invisible Workers of America

In America’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed unprecedented attention being paid to a group usually marginalized, forgotten, and left-behind by the media: the working-class citizens among us. In a world where this class of American often never makes it into the history books, the national response and uplifting of the working class may finally push some to realize how integral these people are to our society. When working-class people lose their jobs, the very structure of American life crumbles. We can only hope that this is a lesson history will remember.

In perhaps the most visceral example for much of America, parents across the nation who have been forced to begin homeschooling their children have taken to social media to share their newfound appreciation for teachers. Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes wrote on Twitter, “Been homeschooling a 6-year old and 8-year old for one hour and 11 minutes.  Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year.  Or a week.” Over 600,000 likes and tens of thousands of replies later, it was clear that parents across the nation shared her sentiment. “Nothing like homeschooling during a pandemic to make parents realize how truly invaluable teachers are,” replied one user; “The coronavirus has showed … teachers and supply chain workers need to be paid more,” wrote another.

Source: Daily Mail

When was the last time you saw somebody tweet about their gratitude for the cleaning staff? “Thank you for all that you are doing to keep people safe!” wrote Twitter user Christina Noor in response to a custodian.  It is a very underappreciated job, but I think this time has made people a little more open to those still putting in effort day in and day out.” Thousands of other users began to tweet in their support of workers under the hashtag #SaveWorkers and began to raise money for the working people who face dire times throughout the pandemic.

To me, this makes me consider most our conversations about Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. In the same way that Ellison felt at times like a faceless, meaningless ghost floating around the white-dominated society of his time, the working class of America – the grocery store employees, the bank tellers, the custodians, the factory employees – who do the laborious work that keeps society moving for the privileged and unprivileged alike, have felt a similar invisibility.

It is precisely because of this coronavirus that people are beginning to realize how critical these employees are to the fabric of our nation. People are reckoning with the fact that if the delivery man gets sick, if the Amazon warehouse workers get sick, if the construction workers and security employees and custodial staff get sick, parts of our lives will grind to a halt. People are understanding how difficult of a job it must be to clean or teach all day, every day, for little money. Most people might say that they are relatively self-sufficient people, but this shared experience of a pandemic that does not discriminate by class, race, or salary, has made Americans of all types understand just how reliant we are on our working class.

Just as Ellison was ignored in a society largely built on the backbreaking labor of blacks in America, the modern-day working class is historically ignored in the society which they form the backbone of. If America learns its lesson during this pandemic, we might be more conscious of our working class in the future, instead of taking them for granted as history has done time and time again. Perhaps by doing this we can find, and maintain, our shared humanity, as opposed to continuing to hammer home the class divide over and over again.

America is a country that often seems to have trouble learning from its past. We can only hope that now, from this time of global chaos, uncertainty, and distress, we can come out a stronger and more united nation that continues its newfound appreciation of the working class.

Just a New Yorker

During this confusing and rather quite difficult time, I wish everyone is staying safe and healthy and has tried to make the most of this new reality that certainly will be written in history books for the following years. Covid-19 has impacted New York in ways I’ve never seen in my 21 years living here and something my parents only heard old folk stories about from the Spanish flu.

However, when it comes to responses from public figures, one that struck out to me the most in terms of educating, providing facts, opinions, and leadership is our very own governor. Gov. Cuomo provides real leadership, well-spoken, clear, straightforward statements about Covid-19 that New Yorkers need. He keeps it real and concise about what our current state is and what he plans on doing moving forward. He has been the leader we need here in NY and not only for us but for across the country as well. You can be a liberal or a conservative but you cannot deny his leadership in NY has been outstanding over this period of uncertainty. Cuomo expresses clear empathy and genuine care for the people of NY and has even been the first governor to promote the mental health concern for NYers.
Recently, Gov. Cuomo made a very powerful Covid-19 briefing that really caught my attention about the “American identity” and especially what it means to be identified as a New Yorker (Link Below).

Cuomo states, “When you are united there is nothing you cant do, and because we are New York tough, we are tough, you have to be tough this place makes you tough, we’re gonna make it, because I love new york, and I love New York because New York loves you, New York loves all of you, black and white and brown and asian and short and tall and gay and straight, New York loves everyone, that’s why I love New York it always has and always will, and at the end of the day my friends, even if it is a long day, and this is a long day, loves wins, always, and it will win again.”

What makes this moving is not only what he says about the identity of New Yorkers, are toughness, our ability to bounce back, but how raw, real, emotional, and unscripted this broadcast was to our fellow New Yorkers. Not only does this create a movement strong enough to stay united even at a time of social distancing but also acts as a catalyst for statewide participation in lowering the curve, remaining socially distant but also still bring there for each other during these stressful times. That’s what being a New Yorker is all about. And its working, as of today the curve is plateauing, we may not need as many ventilators as projected and have lowered the estimated death toll significantly due to the active roll fellow New Yorkers are taking in making sure we get through this and remaining New York tough.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-UavOADhqn/

Admir Kasneci

A Generation Misguided

The Background

Decades of films and hundreds of literary manuscripts have done their best to decipher the dense question of what it means to be a man. The reason that they're so profitable and widely analyzed is that if some writer had a true answer for what it all means, we'd be better off as a society. Yet, there's no universal outline as per what it is and isn't.

In the past few years, the world has seen a rather drastic attack on any form of socially traditional masculinity to be even narrowly accepted into modern culture. The media portrays us, men, as toxic individuals that have "harmful" components such as competitiveness, dominance urges, and aggressive behaviors as core parts of our personalities. So schools tell doctors to drug us from a young age, saying "young men shouldn't act out like this" and "young men shouldn't encourage that" so here's some Ritalin for your troubles. Households aren't much better as divorce rates skyrocketed these last 30 years, with nearly half of all children belonging to single-parent households, (nearly all single mothers). This gets rid of any form of influence from a father's masculine side as 83% of the time as women hold sole custody of the child, most of the time father's giving up custody because of courts siding with the mothers as primary caregivers.

As I began my own journey to find what masculinity truly is, I looked back through all the great films and books I've read to discover one thing: today's society has been and is creating a group of lost boys. There exist hardly any natural positive influences unless you go out and look for yourself. However, when you spend your whole life living this type of lifestyle, it's hard to believe anything else is out there.

The Big Lebowski

Pre-21st Century movies have some of the richest storytelling and theme explorations that are known to modern cinema. In fact, some of the world's greatest directors had most of their content in the 1900's, such as Kubrick and Chaplin. Yet, what the Coen brothers decided to do with The Big Lebowski's hidden understanding of the meaning of masculinity was not only spot on but also rather thought-provoking.

The concept of Dudeism reflects many theories of Stoicism and its principles of not being worrisome at any time due to the capacity to fix one's current situation. The Dude reflects this in all aspects and times of his life, only stimulating significant negative emotion when his testicles, aka masculinity, are threatened to be stripped from him. He describes to Mr. Lebowski that a man is merely what is between his legs. To that, Mr. Lebowski combines his rather philosophical definition with that "insight" from The Dude. It's not only the ability to act with virtue in doing the right thing no matter the cost, but also the biological appendages that an individual is born with. It's what creates these urges to be competitive, to dominate, to be aggressive that defines a man's individualistic true purpose. As said for many years prior: A man has the burden of performance. 

James Bond and The Red Pill Documentary

As for what young men look up to, ask many boys what their favorite movies are, or at least movie topics. Often times James Bond and his corresponding movies about action, adventure, and heated romance retain strong impressions in the minds of many. His suave, elegant, yet lethal image allows a persona to be created reflecting that which can switch between protecting and charming within a matter of seconds. A gun-toting, shaken not stirred, devilishly handsome man allows one to achieve what other men only dream of. And that is all it is. A dream. An illusion. A falsity in a modern world that deems that all of these aspects of what millions of men look up to and sense within themselves to be perfect harnesses of one's nature to merely just be "toxicity". 

Cassie Jaye was a feminist that cultivated these same ideologies about traditional masculinity but took on a different perspective and had the rational point of view of attempting to understand just why so many men couldn't find themselves. Stemming topics include why millennial men were unproductive with their lives or why there was an increase in "kidults". To learn from the other side of the spectrum, she did a documentary called "The Red Pill" essentially doing a deep dive into the existence of the Men's Rights movement and why it even was necessary since we live in some form of patriarchy. What she found was rather shocking to her. Men have unresolved issues with society just like women. Her movie centers around a lot of the issues that aren't talked about and is certainly worth a watch, however, some of the most prominent issues regard the absence of domestic abuse centers for men, false rape allegation justice, and the lost battle of child custody in the court systems. It's not that women's issues didn't exist, but merely that the MRA wanted to bring forth some issues to the gender debate, yet were constantly downplayed because of the idea that "men have a society made for them". Masculinity was under attack, as she saw. So were its underlying principles, conventions, ideologies, and abilities to function under normal circumstances. There lie little taught in the way of what it means to be a man, but from her view, what is taught to not be a man, which is almost everything conceivable.

It is masculinity that is being challenged and has the necessity to withhold its definition despite a lack of clear widespread meaning. It is masculinity that builds the positive character of men who consistently work to be leaders through the practice of Stoicism and boys who are discovering their inner-James Bonds at the mere age of five. It is masculinity that can be a positive influence in both boys and girls to learn how we can coexist and progress society farther than berating the polar opposite. And it is masculinity that has created a society for thousands of years to be rejoiced, retooled, and redefined towards better harmony between genders and species alike.

I'm writing this in the hopes that we can, as Ms. Jaye says, "stop expecting to be offended". As a man living in the modern age, I can only see the damage this society had done to not only my own image, but also my image of masculinity at hand. The movies from years prior highlight some key principles of being a man and allowed men to explore their own senses of masculinity to find out what works for them, but nowadays we stray so far from the point of utilizing traditional masculinity as a tool. Sure, being a man is a bit more than just having testicles, but it's also important to recognize how these Dudeism/Stoic/Bond-Esque principles contribute to creating a positively masculine man in the face of adversity. Bit by bit men must recreate a positive image of the dominant drives that flow through our brains and how to utilize them for good, even if it is downplayed as just "traditional masculine urges". Power, after all, is merely an entity. It is how one uses it that defines it's good or its evil capabilities. Those that wish to get rid of power are merely scared of it, as when the power is gone so is their feeling of inadequacy.

Masculinity In Films

Masculinity in films

            Sitting home during this COVID-19 crisis I was browsing Netflix and I came across Taxi Driver directed by Martin Scorsese. I watched the movie a few years ago and re-visiting this I had Doctor Strangelove in my mind the whole time. Both directed by both legendary directors. I wanted to talk about masculinity as both movies touch upon this topic.

To begin with the film, In "Taxi Driver," Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is a war veteran, horribly scarred in Vietnam. He encounters a 12-year-old prostitute named Iris, controlled by a pimp named Sport. Sport wears an Indian headband. Travis determines to "rescue" Iris, and does so, in a violent act. A letter and clippings from Iris' parents, thank him for saving their girl. But a crucial earlier scene between Iris and Sport suggests that she was content to be with him, and the reasons why she ran away from home are not explored.  In another plot, Travis becomes infatuated with Betsy, a campaign volunteer for Senator and presidential candidate Charles Palantine. After watching her interact with fellow worker Tom through her window, Travis enters to volunteer as a pretext to talk to her, then takes her out for coffee. On a later date, he takes her to see a pornographic film, which offends her, and she goes home alone. His numerous attempts at reconciliation by sending flowers and apologizing over the phone are rebuffed, causing him to become embittered and convinced that she is exactly like the "cold" people he detests in the city. He finally confronts her at the campaign office, berating her before being kicked out by Tom.

These two women are what builds the character of Travis. Travis develops hatred towards the lifestyles that reject him which inflates his egotism. For Iris, is the rejection that she does not need saving and for Betsy the rejection of a normal lifestyle/ fitting into society. As a result, the themes of status and masculinity begin to sync with Travis which triggers his rampage to kill Palatine and Sport. Killing them gives him a purpose in his life which he eventually goes on a killing rampage at the end of the movie. Travis makes himself believe that his revenge is motivated by altruism, from rescuing them from repression, but in reality, it is his way to show his masculinity.

                                                Travis Bickle Taxi Driver

To me, it reminds me of the infamous character Jack D. Ripper from Doctor Strangelove. Ripper is having this persona that we should start a war because he believes that the communist poisoned the water. To add on, the scene where Ripper is unleashing bullets into the opposing army shows his macho and masculine side of him. To add on Cpt. Mandrake sits behind him where he hides from the shower of bullets coming in. Mandrake is portrayed as a feminine character as he is unable to feed bullets to Ripper and not being able to fire a gun. What shows Ripper’s ego is when Mandrake barges in and asks if he can have the recall code. Ripper blatantly denies this request, displaying the risk he puts a country in with his personal interest. To add insult to injury, he kills himself so that no one gets the recall code and now there’s no chance for the missile to be sent back. Causing an indefinite act of war against another country. An action of one man has caused the potential of total annihilation against the whole world. This is caused by one man who puts his ego first before thinking straight.

                                   Jack D. Ripper Doctor Strangelove

These two characters Travis and Ripper are two people who believe that they are doing the right thing. However, what’s right to them is wrong to others. It’s nice to see that recent films like Joker and The Irishman bring attention to masculinity as a theme in society. Especially Joker where it displays a man with a social disability trying to fit in society.

PS: Interesting that Robert De Niro also stars in every movie I mention except Doctor Strangelove. He is truly one of my favorite actors.

COVID-19: The Spread of Injustice

COVID-19, more commonly known as the Coronavirus, has been the main highlight of several worldwide news sources for months. The global pandemic has come to affect a wide, and growing, variety of people in an array of ways that were almost unimaginable just a few months ago. The quickly spreading disease has seemingly put society at a halt, causing the advocacy of social distancing, mandated quarantine and self-isolation, as well as sickness, anxiety, and in many cases, death.

Many people know now that the virus originated in Wuhan, China. As this information spread, along with the virus into the US, many people began to fear coming in contact with the virus. Today, people all over the world are constantly talking about the virus: where it came from, how it spread, how to prevent it, and various associations they have with COVID-19. People all over the world are stressed and anxious about catching the infectious disease, and are very wary of the people around them who may have it. Thus, many are staying home and watching the news as a way to keep up-to-date with the virus’ status, where they ultimately see the leader of the country referring to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus.” This extremely inappropriate, insensitive, and blatantly incorrect association made between China and COVID-19 made by President Trump is very obviously not the correct way to handle the situation. Because of this, many people are seriously relating COVID-19 with anyone of Asian descent, which has ultimately led to false accusations, racial slander, as well as racial hate crimes, using COVID-19 being the “China virus” as an excuse.While the racial stereotype of Asians having the virus became prevalent even before Trump’s nonsensical term for it, his propaganda has made the situation worse, and is ultimately creating a divide among US citizens during a time in which the country should be united.

This current situation is very relevant to our course material, specifically relating to our topics of racism and social injustice. Our class has focused heavily this semester on the stories of real people and their real experiences with racism, segregation, social injustice, and prejudice. For example, in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the narrator speaks to his experience as an “invisible [black] man” in his society. The narrator recalls his struggles in trying to find his identity, equality, and quite simply, his worth and value to society. He recalls times of racial prejudice, his first-hand experiences of a societal racial divide, as well as the physical and mental abuse he was forced to endure simply because of his skin color.

This main idea of being judged and persecuted because of your racial background has never completely disappeared from society. However, it is very obvious that the issue is much more prevalent today than it was several months ago because of the Coronavirus. With the support of biased news sources, fictitious speculations, and even our own president, the Coronavirus has unfairly been associated with the Chinese, and Asians in general. Like the part(s) in Invisible Man when the narrator recalls physical abuse by white people and the police because of his skin color, Asians are now going through a similar experience. There has been an increase in physical hate crimes against the Asian community because people are taking their anger out on them, blaming them for the spread of the Coronavirus. People all over the internet are making insensitive jokes, making biased speculations, as well as blatant racist comments using the virus as an excuse to persecute the Chinese. This type of behavior is extremely uncalled for, unfair, and, in my opinion, is exactly the type of behavior Ellison loathed about in his novel. 

Overall, the current COVID-19 pandemic is a very relevant topic of discussion today. While the virus is very serious and is extremely multifaceted, the way in which the public is reacting to it is racist and disrespectful. The way society is acting today greatly relates to our course material discussing racism and social injustice, and is extremely similar to the topics covered in Invisible Man. We are living history, and it is important to recognize our actions and learn from our past mistakes. 

By Kevin Espiritu