Intro to multicultural literature

By: Marissa Dauber

In the thought provoking and deeply disturbing Citizen: An American Lyric, by Claudia Rankine, we are given countless examples of daily microaggressions that black people face. We are shown situations that may go unnoticed if Rankine hadn’t brilliantly recorded them, and we are made to think differently about how we interact with each other on a daily basis. Rankine reminds us, through real life examples, that our words can hurt and leave lasting effects. However, Rankine also makes mention of some terrible, race-related tragedies that took place, that weren’t so subtle. To name a few, Rankine touches on the murders of Trayvon Martin, James Craig Anderson, and Mark Duggan. She then dedicates an entire page in memoriam to the many black bodies who have died because of their race. She fades the page out while the list is still going to remind the reader that this is a never-ending cycle, and these people frequently end up forgotten about. Perhaps one of the most devastating events Rankine mentions is the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. Katrina was the most unfair display of blatant racism by police, National guard, and the nation as a whole. Rankine builds her many examples of racism up to this moment: to show that if we ignore racism, continue ignoring microaggressions, and disregard black lives, we will incite a national tragedy. All of our actions and words that may seem small all add up to explode in a nightmare of racially motivated tragedy.

            I remember talking about the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and it’s disturbing racial ties in a class I took on racism about a year ago. The professor for the class asked us if we considered Katrina to be a natural disaster, or a man-made one. The majority of people, including myself, stated that we thought it was a natural disaster. That was the day I learned the true meaning behind the events that took place during that hurricane. We watched a documentary called Trouble the Water, a film created by Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her husband, Scott Michael Roberts, who experienced life before, during, and after the storm. In the film, Kimberly states “These houses have not been inspected yet. There could be dead people right now, as we speak, because the National Guard, they have not been here, and it’s two weeks after the hurricane” (Democracy Now, 2008). They were stuck in the attic of their home, hiding from the water that destroyed the rest of their house. They started walking around what used to be their neighborhood and going into damaged homes, and they found their neighbor, dead in his house. The majority of people were too poor to afford to leave, so they were forced to stay there and die. Later on in the film, Scott states “This is one of the Navy bases that Bush had planned to close down. Why can’t we stay overnight? What about the women and children? They said, “Get off our property, or we’re going to start shooting” “ (Democracy Now, 2008). This scene was so disturbing, because there were safe and dry places that the people could be staying in, but they were not allowed to. When they begged to go inside, they were threated to leave or be shot, by the very people that were hired to “keep them safe”. I was very glad I had this knowledge of Katrina before reading Rankine’s book. It gave me a different perspective, as I was able to appreciate Rankine’s artistic and poetic touch to the tragedy, while understanding the back story behind her words. I feel that this film and the book couple together so nicely and give such strong background to the pain these people experienced unnecessarily.

            In Rankine’s description of the tragedy, she states “…each house was a mumbling structure, all that water, buildings peeling apart, the yellow foam, the contaminated drawl of mildew, mold…the bodies lodged in piles of rubble, dangling from rafters, lying facedown, arms outstretched on parlor floors. And someone said, where were the buses? And simultaneously someone else said, FEMA said it wasn’t safe to be there” (Rankine, 84). This imagery says all too well what Katrina was like for black people. The very people that are hired and paid to protect them wouldn’t come to their rescue because “it wasn’t safe”, but they left all the people there to die, knowing it wasn’t safe. Rankine keeps repeating “Have you seen their faces?” (Rankine 83, 85-86) which emphasizes the point she previously made with the list of names fading off the page: these people will be forgotten about. They already are.

            Rankine’s telling of the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, coupled with the documentary Trouble the Water, really gave me a new perspective to this disaster, and taught me a lesson I will never forget: Hurricane Katrina was a man-made disaster. Humankind must change. Our daily acts of racism in the form of microaggressions add up until they explode, just as what happened in the man-made disaster of Hurricane Katrina. How many black bodies must fall until we change our ways?

Discussion Questions

1. How did reading Citizen: An American Lyric give you a new perspective on Hurricane Katrina?
2. What example of racism affected you/stood out to you most from this book?

Works Cited

Rankine, Claudia, 1963- author. Citizen: An American Lyric. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Graywolf Press, 2014.

 “‘Trouble the Water’–New Film Provides Firsthand Account of Hurricane Katrina and Its Aftermath.” Democracy Now!, 22 Aug. 2008, https://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/22/trouble_the_water_new_film_provides.

To me, Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric, is an amazing piece because it has the ability to make anyone either feel empathy or sympathy after hearing the devastating stories of discrimination against African American’s . It invites anger, sadness and even outrage. Section VI is the longest section of the book; it comes out to a total of sixty pages. These sections move out of the conceptual world of the previous sections and into the precise details of the events mentioned in this one. Rankine mentions multiple example of unfair moments that has occurred in African American life. These tragedies show how clearly biasness is predominant in profiling African Americans. Rankin uses second person in the following sections as a way of “pointing fingers” to show the injustice of Africans Americans all over the world.

The main theme of chapter six was to show that prejudice against African Americans is still very much alive today. The first section called “August 29, 2005/ Hurricane Katrina”, illustrations how hard life for African Americans was following the hurricane disaster. The speaker says, “some said where were the buses? And simultaneously someone else said, FEMA said it wasn’t safe to be there” (page 84). By using the word FEMA, Rankin shows how unrepresented black people were in the eyes of the government, and in the eyes of the world. This section ends with a painting of a black man made out of hectic gold and blue dots. In the photograph, it appears that the gold and blue dots are “taking over his body”. It seems as though it is suffocating him, making him lack control. This is probably how the African Americans in New Orleans felt after the hurricane.

Clear examples of injustice towards African Americans is also shown in the section called “June 26,2011 / In Memory of James Craig Anderson,”. This passage mentions the death of an African American man, who was killed by white teenagers. The young white teens beat James Craig Anderson and ran him over with their pick-up truck, JUST because he was African American. This is a clear representation of ignorance because James Craig Anderson was killed because he wore the skin that he was born with. The murderers sound disgustingly proud of the fact that they committed such acts, “I ran that nigger over, itself a record-breaking hot June day in twenty-first century” (Pg. 94). The previous quote shows how repression of African Americans is still in effect. The white young men are not looked at as gang members, or gangsters, but they are described as “just a teen, with straggly blond hair” (94).

The section called “Stop and Frisk” has one of the few titles with no date in it. Rankin wanted to draw attention to the daily struggles that African Americans face during everyday life. In this section, a black man got detained JUST because he was African American. A police vehicle comes to a halt and the narrator has no choice but to get on the ground despite the fact that he is not even a criminal and committed no criminal acts. He was humiliated, his clothes taken away and he was beaten just for fitting the description of an African American criminal. The narrator was given instructions to stand naked after the charge of a simple offense such a speeding is decided on. “The charge the officer decided on was exhibition of speed. I was told after the fingerprinting, to stand naked. I stood naked. It was only then I was instructed to dress, to leave, to walk all those miles back home”. Although it is hard to imagine and believe, traumatizing moments like these happen to black young men way too often from being racially profiled.  Why is it easier for an African American to go to prison than a white American? The section ends with an unclear, slightly burned black and white photo of a crowd of African Americans.  

This book of events makes one think of all of the moments that they have either hurt someone’s feeling or have had their feelings hurt. After reading the stories told, you cannot help but to be more aware of the things you say towards people. Rankin uses all of these true events to show that microaggression and discrimination is still an issue we battle with in society. I believe that this book is so important because she gives African American’s a chance to have their stories HEARD instead of silences. It is political in a sense because Rankin brought exposure to a problem that we need to work on together in order to fix.

Discussion Questions:

1. Which section in Chapter six did you relate the most to? Were you the victim in the situation, or were you the person victimizing
2. Have you ever had a moment in life where you felt unnoticed or important? How did you combat with it?

Works Cited

Rankine, Claudia, 1963- author. Citizen: An American Lyric. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Graywolf Press, 2014.

By Emma Igoe 

Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric, is a very unique piece of literature not only because of the way it was written, but also because of the given effect this story has upon the reader. This book encourages the reader to think critically about racism and the subtle racial comments that occur every single day, which go unnoticed at times. By Rankine writing about these different stories, she is bringing situations to light that are very relevant and should be more widely known. She is helping those who are unaccustomed to become more familiar with the everyday struggles of others by making it easy to place yourself in someone else’s shoes. 

My main focus in this blog post is how Rankine is so effortlessly able to insert the reader into each and every story, whether it’s as the victim or as a witness. Rankine shares stories that formulate a lot of different emotions from the readers, which is what makes this book so successful and relevant. Whether you have personally been victimized because of the color of your skin, or you are just a bystander watching this negative behavior occur, reading this book makes the reader want to put a stop to these degrading comments. As a reader, I did not want to be a bystander anymore considering any small action might be the start of stopping this unnecessary language. Although comments and actions made can either be large or super small, any comment at all has the ability to affect someone. This can take an immense toll on a person’s mental and physical health in more ways than we know, especially when belittling comments are made every day.

The story Rankine shares of a couple going to see the film The House We Live In is a story that was able to develop strong feelings for me personally. Ironically, this is the first film about race to focus not on individual attitudes and behavior, but on the ways our institutions and policies advantage some groups at the expense of others. While this couple is out, they arrange a friend to pick up their child from school. They get a call from their neighbor who says there is a “menacing black guy casing both your homes”. (20) The couple proceeds to tell their neighbor this is a friend who is babysitting whom he has met before, but the neighbor says “No, it’s not him. He’s met your friend and this isn’t that nice young man. Anyway, he wants you to know, he’s called the police.” (20) When the couple calls their friend to ask if there is a man outside, he says if anyone was outside he would see because that’s where he is at that very moment. When the couple arrives home, the neighbor and friend are speaking and the four cop cars that the neighbor was responsible for have left the scene. This entire situation could have been avoided if the couple’s neighbor set his pride aside and approached the friend in a reasonable manner. The neighbor was very ignorant toward this harmless man babysitting his friend’s child which angered me because this all occurred based on a stereotypical thought.

Another example of when Rankine makes the reader feel all these certain levels of discomfort is in a very short story given to us about a man, with the intention of being kind to a woman but it does not exactly end this way. Some of the time, a person does not intentionally make a racial comment to hurt someone else, which is exactly the problem. It has become normalized to not think twice about saying something so little because you think it will have no effect on someone, but when these comments build up each and every day, they begin to weigh down the individual. In this story, a man shows a picture of his wife who is African American to another African American woman. She continues to say she is beautiful and he says, “beautiful and black, like you.” Although this comment made by this man is so small, there is such power carried behind his words. This man is marginalizing this woman and basically treating her as an object, as a color, and not as a person. 

In conclusion, this book pressures the reader to encompass all of the emotions that Rankine feels on a daily basis. As a reader, you cannot ignore such strong messages being told to you as clearly as Rankine makes them in Citizen: An American Lyric. When being told these personal stories of innocent people being belittled, it makes the reader want to do everything to stop this unnecessary behavior and to no longer be a bystander in the crowd watching things happen.

Discussion Questions:

1. During which part of the book have you felt the largest urge to want to help the victim of these microaggressions made so often? 
2.  What are some examples of a time when you have been victimized for anything at all, and how did you feel at that exact moment? 

Works Cited

Rankine, Claudia, 1963- author. Citizen: An American Lyric. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Graywolf Press, 2014.

Excerpt From: Claudia Rankine. “Citizen.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/citizen/id908342605

Adelman, Larry. “RACE- The Power of an Illusion.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-about-03.htm.

In Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric, The reader is very personally involved due to the secondary point of view. This kind of narrative forces the reader to be as involved as possible. It gives the illusion that you are actually there experiencing what the writer is experiencing. Rankine shows multiple examples of every day acts of racism and micro aggressions that could weigh down on a persons conscience. In this blog post I will be specifically talking about the concept of identity. Who you are you to someone? who are you to someone different? what do you think about yourself?

The pygmalion effect is the phenomenon that higher expectations would usually lead to higher performance . In other words, our beliefs of another persons abilities influence our actions towards that person. This action has an impact on the other persons belief about themselves. When that person thinks less about themselves they treat people as if they’re better than them. This is what I like to call the Pygmalion-self. The pygmalion-self is shown beautifully in the most horrific way when Rankine talks about a man showing up for his therapy session, specializing in trauma. “When the door finally opens, the woman standing there yells, at the top of her lungs , Get away from my house! what are you doing in my yard?” (18) The man is there for treatment of trauma so its safe to assume he’s been kicked down before, and needs help getting back up. Now, he has been kicked while laying. The person he had gone to for help had snapped him mentally. The following page shows an image of what appears to be some kind of animal with a human face stitched on top. A visual representation of a man thinking of himself as less than human

It is easy to judge people quick, with out any knowledge of the situation. People are guilty of coming into a conversation 10 minutes late and responding to the last thing that was said as if they know anything about anything going on in the conversation. The media is maybe the most guilty of this. In a critical tennis match between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters Serena was called for a foot violation for stepping on the line. When asked for a replay is was said that cameras don’t cover the feet, only the ball. The situation was bonkers and any self respecting competitor would react passionately. Rankine quotes Williams “I swear to god I’m fucking going to take this fucking Ball and shove it down your fucking throat, you hear that? I swear to god!” (29) The media said that her actions and words were insane, and that she should act more like an mature woman. This is what I like to call the pygmalion-them. They (them) don’t know whats happening. They turn on ESPN to see Serena yelling at an official and make their judgements. They came into the conversation 10 minutes late and they want to put in their 2 cents. At this point, this is how they see Serena Williams.

Not every one is arrogant, there are people out there who try to be a fair person day in and day out. Anyone who is a fan of professional sports knows how intense a playoff game can be. The pressure, the preparation, everything builds up until finally its time to perform. When its game time thats what it is, and thats all it is, game time. Micheal Jordan dominated the NBA, Wayne Gretzky changed the NHL forever. Serena Williams is currently the best woman ever to play tennis, and arguably the best woman athlete of all time. She got to where she is now the same way Jordan did it, and the same way Wayne did it. She wanted it more than anyone else and went and got it. With that kind of effort comes great passion. No one works their whole life for something just to have that something ripped away from them, and reacts well. Rankine realises that, “As offensive as her outburst is, it is difficult not to applaud her for reacting immediately to be thrown against a sharp white background.” (29) Rankine Is an example of something I like to call the pygmalion-you. This person knows whats happening, and wonders what it would be like to be you, instead of seeing you as something different.

In conclusion, how someone sees you can be completely different then how you see yourself in both a negative and a positive way. Identity isn’t just who you are but who you are to me, and who you are to someone else. on a side note, staying positive to who you truly are will prevent your pygmalion self from taking you over.

Questions: Judging from what I said regarding the pygmalion-self, what are some pros and cons about about seeing people differently because of how they treat you.

How many situations can you think of where a pro athlete acted out with passion and was barely ridiculed for their actions

Work cited:

Rankine, Claudia. Citizen: an American Lyric. Graywolf Press, 2014.

curry, Sarah c. “The Pygmalion Effect.” Duquesne University, www.duq.edu/about/centers-and-institutes/center-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-and-learning/pygmalion.

By Samantha Brigandi

In Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric, the reader takes the personal perspective of second person point of view through varying examples of racism. Rankine uses this unique style and couples it with modern day examples to really invite readers to experience the text more personally. Specifically, in this blog I will be focusing on how she uses the example of Serena Williams and catalogs some of the injustices over her career. By using the second person point of view she makes it feel as if we really are watching Serena and that emphasizes our ability to sympathize. More than that, it helps us turn that sympathy into empathy.

Serena Williams and her sister Venus are household names, world champions and record breakers, however, the events Rankine writes about are not common knowledge. Serena is also a great example, if not the best, because she’s a strong black woman playing on a stage considered “the most lily-white place in the world.” (Rankine, 32) This is to emphasize how, despite her unquestionable talent and superiority in the sport, she is still discriminated against and discredited. The world of tennis has been a white bourgeois sport since the dawn of the game, and for a girl from Compton to be the best there’s ever been it reveals the ugly side of the system. As Rankine quotes Zora Neale Hurston, “I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.” (Rankine, 25) It becomes very clear how Serena stands against this sharp white background. She is too often portrayed by the media as an angry black woman and her outbursts have been over dramatized and punished harshly.

Rankine uses multiple examples to catalog the almost endless list of gross injustices faced by Serena. Specifically, it is her example of the match against Kim Clijsters that stood out most to me. It is the way that Serena reacts which is rooted in justified anger and by result she is penalized to an excessive degree. As Rankine writes following the outburst to the umpire, “now Serena’s reaction is read as insane. And her punishment for this moment of manumission is the threatened point penalty resulting in the loss of the match, an $82,500 fine, plus a two-year probationary period by the Grand Slam Committee.” (Rankine, 30) The punishment is more like a persecution, the excuse the Committee had been waiting for in an attempt to discredit and degrade Williams. Her outburst and rage were justly founded in the face of unfairness of the calls against her. An unfairness we can all understand and relate to, the feeling of anger at the person perpetuating this injustice. In Rankine’s words, “perhaps this is how racism feels no matter the context-randomly the rules everyone else gets to play by no longer apply to you,” (Rankine, 30) really strikes true and draws an emotional response. This is a really powerful example because it sheds light on a moment that was contextualized by the “sharp white background.” This kind of punishment should really be reserved for serious offenses, but a black woman’s anger is seen as seriously offensive to the Grand Slam Comittee. As Audre Lorde in her essay “The Uses of Anger” points out, “women responding to racism means women responding to anger, the anger of exclusion, of unquestioned privilege, of racial distortions, of silence, ill-use, stereotyping, defensiveness, misnaming, betrayal, and coopting.” (Lorde, 278) Serena Williams is exceptional, in her abilities and her victories, but we are reminded that in the face of racism there are no exceptions for her. The racism and sexism she faces are not exclusive to her but they are universal to black women everywhere.

 In conclusion, Rankine does something very unique by inviting us to personally experience the story and the effect is very powerful. By stepping into the shoes of women of color we can better understand the way these experiences cut so deeply. Following the story of Serena, we can understand and empathize with her anger, her anger at the game and the system and feeling rightfully angered by it ourselves. Overall, her ability to personally invite us into the story really allows us to step into someone else’s shoes and open our eyes.

Questions:

How did Second Person Point of view effect your experience reading the book?

Did the Serena Williams example remind you of any racial injustices you have seen in the sports world in recent years?

Works Cited

Rankine, Claudia. Citizen: an American Lyric. Graywolf Press, 2014.

Lorde, Audre. “The Uses of Anger.” Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 1/2, 1981, pp. 278–285.

In Claudia Rankine’s Citizen An American Lyric, the first section works to put the readers in an uncomfortable situation while reading, in order to help them better understand the ways in which everyday racism is perpetuated in a multitude of forms against Black Americans. She does this by highlighting instances of microaggressions. Small moments of racism that may go over someone’s head if they are not paying close attention. Rankine shows us that although small, these moments of everyday racism can be severely degrading for marginalized groups of people. Rankine seeks to make the white reader more aware of this mundane racism, so that they will be less likely to perpetuate it onto marginalized people.   

   Rankine shares a memory from her childhood where she experienced an act of microaggression from another child, in hopes to portray how the impact of another child’s seemingly innocent words can leave a damaging effect on one’s view of themselves. After she lets the student cheat off of her, Rankine recalls the girls usual response “You never really speak except for the time she makes her request and later when she tells you you smell good and have features like a white person” (5). The classmate of Rankine’s was not purposefully attempting to be malicious towards her, however, it is quite clear that the comment is very much so offensive and hurtful, as it implies that Rankine having features like a white person is somehow inherently better than having more traditionally African American features. The comment, although subtle, stuck with Rankine from childhood into adulthood, showing it has carried with her in a damaging way.

 Another example of a microaggression experienced by Rankine was when a friend kept getting mixed up with her name “After it happened I was at a loss for words. Haven’t you said this to a close friend who early in your friendship, when distracted, would call you by the name of her black housekeeper? (7). A lot of people claim that they are bad with names, so what makes this girl mixing up Rankine’s name any different? Rankine’s friend not being able to get her name straight becomes a problem when she is getting it confused with possibly the only other black woman in her life. Whether the friend actually realizes it or not, she is reinforcing a stereotype. The stereotype that most people of color look alike is widely reinforced by white people who do not bother or take the time to match a face to a name, and Rankine’s friend is clearly a culprit of that. 

Not only does Rankine point of the microaggressions she has faced in her own life, but she also brings to light those that have been hurled toward black sportswomen, such as Serina and Venus Williams. An example of that may be tennis officials abusing their powers and affirming their bias for other competitors over the Williams sisters, and they ways in which people react to Serina’s justified frustration. After Serina is subjected to unfairness by officials she stands up for herself and unleashes her anger. While Rankine sees this as an applaudable moment, the officials do not “Now Serina’s reaction is read as insane” (Rankine 30). If Serina had not been an African American woman, would she still have been read as being insane for her reaction? The commentators were able to side with Serina’s frustrating as with their tennis knowledge, they could tell something was off, however, her reaction to the unfairness was still looked down upon. The officials, the umpires, and many fans forced her into the angry black woman stereotype, furthering the notion that Serina’s anger was unjustifiable.

By pointing out the microaggressions she has faced in her life, and the ones faced by women of a high celebrity status, Rankine points out to the white audience that it is easier than originally thought to perpetuate harmful stereotypes and contribute to the oppression of marginalized groups.

Discussion Questions:

1. In what ways so far has the book either changed the way, or reinforce the way you think about what it means to be a culprit or an accomplice to racism?
2.  What are some other examples of microaggressions scattered throughout the book?

Work Cited

Rankine, Claudia, 1963- author. Citizen : An American Lyric. Minneapolis, Minnesota :Graywolf Press, 2014.

I really enjoyed attending the Toni Morrison event. Learning about the multiple awards including her Nobel Prize in literature and many more, I learned that this author was ground-breaking and an amazing woman. She would use her books to show her experiences throughout her life, she uses her books to teach others about her culture and how her culture shaped her life.

 One thing that really stood out to me during the panel what a quote that was from Toni Morrison, “If there is a book you want to read but it hasn’t been written yet you must write it.” This quote stood out to me because this showed it showed why she began writing her books, she was writing them because no one else was. She needed to speak her thoughts, words and her truth. These stories she told were testaments to what she believed in, what she thought the world needed to hear. Morrison showed through her works of art, her books that she wanted to create more and further the conversations of racism and prejudice thoughts and values.

I really enjoyed the conversation our Professor brought to the table. The conversation was brought up about how we, as women, need to have friendship that is “unmediated by men.” Professor Savonick brought up that Toni Morrison would question woman’s oppression, why is it happening? Women have just as much power as men and Morrison wanted to get that across to the reader through the use of her books.

The Toni Morrison event held here at SUNY Cortland overall was a very heartfelt yet educational presentation all in one. There were many speakers which took on a different aspect of Mrs. Morrisons writing which went from personal experiences, from topics she greatly touched upon in her writing. Overall I believe that the presentation was very well planned and was an enjoyable experience.

 One quote that was brought up that I really enjoyed was “if you want to read a book that hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it”. This stood out to me because it really made me think, we can be searching for stories that don’t exist yet, but those stories can be ones of our own. From all the individuals who presented it seems that Toni Morrison has had a great impact on a lot of lives. 

All in all I think that this event was worth going to. It was well presented, very organized, and a lot of students and faculty went. I think my school does a fabulous job if hosting different events for students and I am looking forward to the next one. -Andrea Moro

On Thursday of this past week, I was able to attend the Toni Morrison event. I am not only glad I have attended to learn more about such an influential woman, but I was glad and surprised to see the entire lounge was filled as well. During this event, professors from different fields of education including the English department, Africana Studies department, Health department, Women’s studies, and others were all able to come together to express how Toni Morrison has influenced each of their own lives.

Before I attended this event, I was not too familiar with the works of Toni Morrison; but after attending this event and listening to the panel of professors speaking on behalf of her accomplishments, I have been inspired by all she has done and by all of those whom she has influenced. For those of you who are unsure, Toni Morrison was an American novelist, book editor, essayist, and a college professor. She was the winner of several prizes including the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. One key moment that I was able to take away from this event was when Mr. James Felton spoke on how Toni Morrison was able to shape him to his core. She was a woman to fully embrace and understand the culture and history behind her heritage. She taught him the importance of staying in touch with where you come from, which he has now brought to his own classroom to teach his students.

Overall, I am extremely happy that I was able to attend the Toni Morrison event because I left with inspiration to continue my own life as she did hers. She has made such a large impact on the lives of so many, which motivates me to always put 100% effort into everything I am able to accomplish.

This past Thursday, I was able to attend the Toni Morrison Roundtable event. I was very surprised with the amount of people that were there, and I was even more surprised to see how passionate the speakers were about Toni Morrison. Previous to this event, I did not know much about Toni Morrison. I had only heard her name mentioned in my high school English classes, but I had never read anything from her. After listening to everyone speak about her, it made me want to look into some of her works and read them for myself. Her books seemed to have great messages, and the fact that the speakers were so passionate about it made me even more curious.

Although Toni Morrison was African-American, she was able to reach out and touch the hearts of all her readers, no matter what they looked like. For the black community, one speaker said that he was able to be conscious of his heritage and the society that he lived in. He also felt moved by Toni Morrison because he was able to relate to what she was writing about, even if it was a book based on women. It also helped him celebrate his race and appreciate the black community. 

When Professor Savonick was speaking, I was very touched by her description of Morrison’s book Sula, and it made me interested in reading it. She spoke about how Toni Morrison was able to depict female friendship, and push that women should work together rather than working against each other. I thought that this message was very important, especially in today’s society where it seems like everyone is always compared to somebody. Prof. Savonick also said that Toni Morrison’s books described that romantic relationships are only one type of relationships you could have in your life, and how working together and forming different types of relationships with people are very important in a larger movement.

I am happy that I was able to go to this event with some friends, and learn about who Toni Morrison was and why she was so important. It was nice to see all these people come together to celebrate someone’s life in a special way, and I am definitely going to look into what Toni Morrison books would be good for me to read.