It’s Too Early to Declare a Culture-War Winner

Claudia Rankine's new book, Triage, conveys the disappointment that all the optimism and effort for true equality for Black Americans has failed. In the book, Rankine expresses the need to detach liberation from arrival, realizing that "there" might be nowhere. This melancholic reference to Martin Luther King Jr. represents one of the book's most hopeful moments.

In 2014, Rankine's groundbreaking work, Citizen, seemed to capture the mood of millions of Americans following the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, when the killing of Michael Brown sparked protests and calls for police reform. The movement, "Black Lives Matter," aimed to change society and believed this could be done. Citizen, a blend of poetry, prose, and photography, highlighted how race distorted every social and professional encounter for Black Americans.

However, a dozen years later, it seems Americans live amid the aftermath of that confident moment. Rankine argues that the pain of this moment isn't exclusive to Black Americans, as it extends to other marginalized groups like immigrants, LGBTQ+ individuals, and women. The administration has intentionally fueled a culture war to distract from its unpopular moves towards oligarchy and authoritarianism.

Despite the backlash, Rankine questions whether they have genuinely lost. The rise of Black candidates for elite jobs and grants, a result of favoritism, suggests that progress has been made. However, the acceleration of this trend has led to backlash, with some feeling they have lost opportunities due to increased hiring of others. Overall, it remains uncertain if Rankine and her allies have truly lost their cultural war.