Citizen: An American Lyric is one of the more accessible books we have read so far. Claudia Rankine uses everyday language to convey her messages about commonplace racist behavior practiced against black people. As a reader, I appreciate the small details Rankine shares. Her anecdotes are sometimes ironically funny but painful, like the story on page 15 about the neighbor and the babysitting friend. Although the white neighbor has seen the black babysitting friend before, he does not recognize him when he sees him for the second time because his black skin color makes him unrecognizable. The neighbor calls to inform [you] (YOU is the pronoun the writer uses) that he will call the police when he sees “a menacing black guy casing both your homes” (15). From the neighbor’s perspective, the person he sees at the moment of calling [you] is not the same nice person he has already met with [you]. After the police’s confirmation of the black guy’s identity, the neighbor apologizes and the problem seems to have been resolved. Yet the issue of racist behavior against black people has started long before this incident and will last long after. I think this story or incident along with many other portrayals conveyed in Citizen: An American Lyric reflect the unconscious actions of whites against blacks. Although such acts or words by white persons toward black persons might seem innocuous, Rankine tells a different story. I believe that one of the writer’s goals is to raise awareness of the kind of racist acts and language that might not even be seen by whites as racist. The writer is also highlighting the idea of what she calls the “historical self”, or what I understand as the accumulation of racist behavior throughout history and its reflection on black people’s everyday life in the present time.