Summary

“To Be a Citizen” by Morgan Jerkins is the thirteenth essay of this anthology and is very brief. It outlines Jerkins’ perception that America does not consider its black population as ‘citizens’ in the same way that it does for white people. She recalls a time she interviewed Claudia Rankine about the latter’s poetry book, “Citizen,” and says that Rankine opened her eyes to the myriad aggressions, both small and large, perpetrated on a daily basis by the state against black people and black women especially. Her brief essay concludes with the thought that black women should document the aggressions they experience so as to ensure those narratives are not forgotten by future generations.

“Two New Yorks” is the fourteenth essay, by Zinzi Clemmons. It is brief and philosophical, with Clemmons comparing the diverse, working-class image...