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Rankine's talk was an aptly timed reminder of how the vulnerability of humanity is perhaps one of the greatest strengths of communities, no matter the circumstances nor situations they find themselves subjected to or submersed in. I thought about how bell hooks writes on love in All About Love, and how the concepts of understanding and openness, forgiveness and grace, and bravery and reciprocity enhance and enlighten connections that sustain us as people, together.

I thought of how the Black body has endured and persevered generations of traumas and violence that continue to shift with the world as we make and take steps to combat anti-black racism and support Black Americans as valued members of our communal lives. In the same way that science and medicine has frequently failed to acknowledge Black experiences of embodied pain and illness--and even prey upon dehumanization of Black people--I feel as though the methods of media either produce spectacle or disastrously desensitize society's ability to self-recognize our own empathetic struggles in Black victims.

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When I was listening to Rankine speak about both Ketanji Brown Jackson and Coco Gauff, one thing I kept coming back to as she told these stories was this idea of vulnerability against this urge to be strong. This brought me back to Nash's writing, specifically when she talks about the concept of "love politics" as they relate to Black feminism. She writes about love being a space for vulnerability, a specific moment Rankine notices with both Jackson and Gauff during pivotal moments in their careers. Something she highlughst that Nash seems to find important as well goes along with the moments Jackson lets her tears fall after Cory Booker shares his recognition, and when Gauff runs to hug her father after winning the US open. Nash uses love politics and vulnerability to convey this important moment of looking at ones self and allowing someone else to love you in your vulnerable state, both Rankine and Nash touch upon this importance of the self in this way. Nash puts it this way, stating that "a commitment to mutual vulnerability constitutes a commitment to be intimately bound to each other (or to others), to refuse boundaries between self and other." (116) This quote specifically brings me back to this moment between Jackson and Booker, in which Booker gave Jackson a chance to break from the pressure by showing not only that he saw what she was going through, but he knew it himself. It is this moment of mutual vulnerability when Jackson allows herself to feel, and figuratively collapsing as "a necessary recognition of the brutality in the world" (Rankine). It is these intimate moments of solidarity that are key, the ones that provide recognition of intimate but shared struggle, highlighted as love.

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Rankine's speech was very eye opening and I was so impressed at how well spoken she was. The opening of her speech about Jackson and Gauff were so powerful as well as the video she showed toward the end of her speech. It was crazy to think that a 17 year old girl was just causally videotaping a bus stop but captured a clear view of anti-black racism as well as proof that white supremacy plays roles in the smallest of things. I believe that Rankine's speech spoke to the issues of Nash's work and the idea of the black body and black female vulnerability. While looking at the photo of Gauff sprawled out on the tennis court it showed a moment of vulnerability as Rankine describes. It shows the weight of all of the games, practices, and stress finally being released after winning the U.S. open. Jackson shows a similar vulnerability when she breaks down in tears at what one would consider a formal event which being emotional could be seen unusual. She does not let the abuse of the white senators stop her and allows herself to feel as one would if they were being targeted. Both of these instances shows the breaking of a stereotypical idea that black women can not show their emotions and Rankine mentions "the white women tears" in that white women are seen as always showing emotion. One specific thing in Nash's work is when she talks about the experience of Patricia Williams and her encounter at the store Benetton. This store was located in New York City where there was a large source of technology that helped employees determine dangerous individuals shopping since it was around Christmas and there were so many people. Williams was denied entry at the door by a white employee even though the store was open, Nash explains, "there were several white people in the store who appeared to be shopping for things for their mothers.. Williams channeled her inner admittedly refuse and symmetrical rage to ask others to bear witness to the racial profiling she was experiencing (Nash 120)." This relates to the example I mentioned before when Rankine shows the video of the bus driver not allowing the black women onto the bus when the bus was clearly still at the bus stop and she missed it by a millisecond. The video also shows multiple white women running to the bus when the bus had already pulled out and it opening the doors to let them in. The idea of anti-blackness and intersectionality is a common theme among Nash and Rankine's work.

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Response to Claudia Rankine Talk - Cecelia Hampton

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Response to Claudia Rankine Talk - Cecelia Hampton

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During her talk, Claudia Rankine began by speaking about watching Justice Jackson’s confirmation hearing live on national television, and her feelings of empathy and identity towards Jackson and other Black women she has seen on the news. She emphasized the moment when Jackson “collapsed,” becoming tearful during the proceedings, because of the relief she felt. Rankine explained how she had been waiting for a public moment for a Black woman to say “this is enough,” and believes that Justice Jackson breaking down crying during such a formal proceeding was “groundbreaking.” She further said that Jackson’s tears “break a trend,” since Black people are so often portrayed as being unbreakable. Rankine also emphasized the stoicism of Black women, and how it can shut down their capacity to feel, to be vulnerable, to understand when they are hurt or overwhelmed or feeling alone. She also described how seeing someone achieve such a high office in the Supreme Court, through a career of amazing work, experiencing a moment of collapse, showed a moment of humanity. She said it showed that Jackson could recognize and feel the racism she has experienced in her career, and acknowledge that “this is a lot,” but also showed that you can “be all things,” and that you can feel racism but still achieve. For Rankine, this is “the idea of a whole person, a real person.” Rankine also expressed happiness at knowing that Jackson’s daughter was in attendance and witnessed her mother collapse, saying that it “is a necessary recognition of the brutality in the world.” Additionally, Rankine discussed 19-year-old Coco Gauff’s victory in the U.S. Open this year, and the “money shot” of a photograph that was captured of Gauff laying on the court after her win. Rankine also identified this as a moment of collapse, attributing it to be an authentic release of pressure from weeks of play and a competitive final match. In regards to both of these examples, Rankine said, “Our ongoing humanity depends on those moments of collapse.” In Jennifer Nash’s piece “Love and Death,” she argues that the practice of love-politics by Black feminists is centered on vulnerability and witnessing, and that intersectionality’s relation to the law is connected to the tradition of love-politics. She aims to recognize the ideas of the death of the field of Black feminism by the neoliberal university as being revealing of the need to resurrect the key analytics of the field, turning to love as a way forward. Similar to Rankine’s emphasis on the importance of witnessing and experiencing moments of collapse, Nash believes that acting in love means recognizing mutual vulnerability as something that must be embraced for the project of social justice. Nash highlights the ability of love to transform. She also writes, “The realization of our capacity to be ‘undone,’ of the way others can ‘undo’ us, and the decision to embrace rather than retreat from the possibility of our potential undoing, is the logic of black feminist love-politics'' (Nash 117). This directly correlates with Rankine’s discussion about moments of collapse for Black women. Rankine and Nash’s philosophies of “collapse,” and “undoing” directly compliment each other.

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I found Claudia Rankine's speech to be incredibly engaging. I am double majoring in political science and computer science, so for Rankine to begin her speech reflecting on her experience regarding Justice Jackson's confirmation to reflect my own personal views. To see someone enter a position of such prestige in my life time especially one who looks like me resonated deeply with my love of political science. I too payed close attention to Rankine's perspective on vulnerability. Often American society pushes the narrative that Black women need to be independent individuals unaffected by emotion and remiss to vulnerability. Rendering black women to be stoic in a sense. Her discussion and analysis of intimate moments such as when Coco Gauff ran to hug her father after her win, reminded me that the humanization of black women is intertwined with the "de-stoicization" of black women. It made me think about societies eventual shift from this narrative to a more humane view of black women.

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Rankine and Schalk's Bodyminds Reimagined- Eve Galanis

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Rankine and Schalk's Bodyminds Reimagined- Eve Galanis

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In Claudia Rankine's lecture, "Framing Black Female Subjectivity: Desire and Vulnerability," Rankine highlights her creative writings which capture the moments one is forced into thought, to imagine "different steps must be taken." Rankine's poetry explored the spaces between reality and imaginary; putting herself into the mind of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearings. As Brown resiliently withstood blatant, public anti-Blackness. Brown, in reality, could not express feeling fed-up. But Rankine could; and through her language and imagery she realizes for us what all of this is for- future generations. Capturing Coco Gauff's physical collapse after her accomplishments highlighted younger generations of Black women are not afraid to show their vulnerability and their joy.

In my view, Rankine's poetry and descriptive writing aligns with Sami Schalk's analysis of women's speculative fiction. According to Schalk, Black women's speculative fiction accounts for social systems of privilege as well as contextualizes the categories of (dis)ability. While Rankine is not necessarily creating an entire alternative universe like Octavia Butler, she transforms Black women positionality- from the object of patriarchy to the subject of new futures and possibilities. As Schalk states, "if a character's bodymind variation is considered nonnormative or deviant by the text's fictional society at large," then they are considered (dis)abled. But in her definition disability is not an impediment. Instead, she, and Rankine, asks us to rethink the way we think about Black women's bodies in space.

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Responses to Rankine Talk - Emmanuel Mitikie

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Responses to Rankine Talk - Emmanuel Mitikie

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Right, so the talk was awesome. Rankine was well-composed and eloquent. I first read her work in my poetry class and I deeply appreciated how she captured the "wake" of the Black experience in America. I came into the talk late for a myriad of reasons. However, I was most attentive to the parts of the discussion when people were asking her questions. I was disappointed to see her response to one white kid in the audience. He asked, "How can I or people that don't know about black people's struggle help". Rankine retorted, "You are a white man, why don't you tell me". I thought that was awfully harsh. She did so too, which is why she apologised for "being too harsh". I think this interaction in many ways shows the role of black writers in America. We are translators of experiences, and this occasion is one of "wake". Sometimes you are too tired to explain and maybe are even insulted at being asked for a solution. Throughout her talk, she discussed several other coloured people's experiences such as Coco Gauff's experience at the U.S. Open. That was an occasion of "wake". It was a good talk and I don't have much to contribute to the "academic" discourse surrounding it except to say that I think there is a genuine fatigue in conveying experiences, and "wakes". I was disappointed in the lack of attentiveness and care to his question. However, tiring it might have been. Now, I might be the one being too harsh.