The Alien, Immanent You

I found this assignment to be extremely difficult.  How could I, as a white, young male, possibly “hack” into a work created by a black woman without altering and undermining the integrity of her own work with my own limited viewpoint and understanding?

In order to show my inability, or the inability of any white person, to fully understand and respect Claudia Rankine’s work, I had alienated the word “you.”  For Rankine, “you” as determined, defined, and labeled in the mouths of others, especially those who don’t understand, is alienating: “The worst injury is feeling you don’t belong so much/to you”

I drew white people—a brutal cop, a conservative grandmother, a Klansman, and Donald Trump—who would take the “you” and make it “You are you even before you/ grow into understanding you/ are not anyone, worthless/ not worth you.”  They are people who can make the black body disconnected from the self, alienated, fragmented, and crushed under the weight of nonexistence.

I’m still not convinced I did a successful job hacking this project.