“The past is a life sentence, a blunt instrument aimed at tomorrow.” — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
You can’t put the past behind you. It’s buried in you; it’s turned your flesh into its own cupboard. Not everything remembered… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
“That time and that time and that time the outside blistered the inside of you, words outmanoeuvred years, had you in a… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
I don't think people want to look at problems. They want a continuous narrative, an optimistic narrative. A narrative that says there's… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
I want to believe that in any relational moment a person understands that the other person in front of them is just… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
Whereas if you were writing an op-ed piece or an essay, somebody would be asking, "What's your point?" With poetry you can… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
I'm not comfortable, for myself and for others. And yet, one has these people whom you trust, have faith in, whom you… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
I asked a lot of friends and people I'd meet, "Can you tell me a story of a micro-aggression that happened to… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
I wanted a feeling of accumulation. I really wanted the moments to add up because they do add up. I wanted to… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
So you're just moving along and suddenly you get this moment that breaks your ability to continue, and yet you continue. I… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
One of the things that I think about is: How do you make moments that float, transparent? Moments that could just float… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
When you achieve it fully, you create something that's transparent - that people can move into and through their own experiences. As… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
In the future, we've forgotten it. It's disappointing to find out that the past is the present is the future. Nobody wants… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
The world is wrong. You can't put the past behind you. It's buried in you; it's turned your flesh into its own… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
My tendency is to want to say to the person, "Do you understand why I feel this way?" I usually do say… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
The idea that when one reacts, one is not reacting to any one of those moments. You're reacting to the accumulation of… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
The truce is that. You forgive all of these moments because you're constantly waiting for the moment when you will be seen.… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
I don't know about forgiving, but it's an "I'm still here." And it's not just because I have nowhere else to go. It's because… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share
So you're just moving along and suddenly you get this moment that breaks your ability to continue, and yet you continue. I wanted those… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share
“because white men can't police their imagination black people are dying” — Claudia Rankine Copy Share
Whereas if you were writing an op-ed piece or an essay, somebody would be asking, "What's your point?" With poetry you can stay in… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share
I asked a lot of friends and people I'd meet, "Can you tell me a story of a micro-aggression that happened to you in… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share
The subject who speaks is situated in relation to the other. This privilege of the other ceases to be incomprehensible once we admit that… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share
Where is the safest place when that place / must be someplace other than in the body? — Claudia Rankine Copy Share
If you admit to being racist, it says you acknowledge that you are being driven by projections and stereotypes that were formed in the… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share
“I asked another friend what it's like being the mother of a black son. "The condition of black life is one of mourning," she… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share
