Claudia Rankine

Claudia Rankine, an award-winning poet known for her impactful work on race, invites listeners to engage in meaningful conversations about racial complexities. She shares insights from her book 'Just Us', emphasizing the necessity of tackling uncomfortable dialogues, even in everyday settings like airports. The discussion also highlights 'Nina', a children's biography celebrating Nina Simone's legacy. Rankine explores how humor can bridge divides in understanding privilege and identity, urging a deeper reflection on societal issues rather than oversimplified solutions.

The poet, essayist, and playwright Claudia Rankine says every conversation about race doesn’t need to be about racism. But she says all of us — and especially white people — need to find a way to talk about it, even when it gets uncomfortable. Her bestselling book, “Citizen: An American Lyric,” catalogued the painful daily experiences of lived racism for people of color. Claudia models how it’s possible to bring that reality into the open — not to fight, but to draw closer. And she shows how we can do this with everyone, from our intimate friends to strangers on airplanes. Claudia Rankine is the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry at Yale University and founder of The Racial Imaginary Institute. She is the author of five collections of poetry including “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely.” Her plays include “The Provenance of Beauty” and “The White Card.” Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.