- One moment in Rankine’s excerpt that struck me was when she said, “Though no one was saying anything explicitly about Serena’s black body, you are not the only viewer who thought it was getting in the way of Alves’s sight line.” Rankine said this in relation to the situation of the referee, Alves, giving Serena Williams bad calls. The calls were very repetitive and he made it obvious that he was giving Serena bad calls on purpose. In Rankine’s statement, she is trying to say that as a viewer, we could tell that since Serena is black, she was getting bad calls against her white opponent. This situation was obviously racially motivated on the referees part.
- One moment in Rankine’s excerpt where she applied a lens that I recognize was when she said, “As offensive as her outburst is, it is difficult not to applaud her for reacting immediately to being thrown against a sharp white background.” In this moment, the lens that she was conveying is the Critical Race Theory. The critical race theory is used in moments when someone is being marginalized, or moments of racial inequality. Serena Williams had a bad call against her, but everyone knew that the call was made due to her race. Another moment in Rankine’s excerpt where she applied a lens that I recognize was when she said, “To understand is to see Serena as hemmed in as any other black body thrown against our American background.” The lens that Rankine used here was the idea of intersectionality. She showed that the role of race in this particular situation played a part in the outcome.
- The moment that I communicated effectively and persuasively without using words was in a baseball game back in 8th grade. It was the last game of the regular season and we needed this win to make the playoffs. It was the bottom of the 9th inning, the score was 2-3, we were down. There was 2 outs and I was up to bat, the fate of our team laid on my shoulders. There was a man on third, so I had the chance of even tying the game with a single. This was my first game with my brand new bat, so that definitely gave me a confidence boost. I took the first couple pitches out of pure nervousness, the count was 2-2. I look back at my coach and stare into his eyes as he stared right back into mine. He nodded his head and so did I. With that look, I communicated to him that I was going to win this game for the team. I got back into the batters box and crushed the ball out, 250 feet out of the park and my team advanced into the playoffs. We ended up winning the world series that year. This will forever be a lifelong memory of mine and it also shows how such a small moment in life can change the outcome. It really makes me think, would we have won the game, go to the playoffs, and win the world series if I didn’t swing at that pitch?
2 thoughts on “Nick Serrao Reading Responses Week 6”
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It’s cool how nonverbal forms of communication can be more meaningful than saying it out loud. Just a single nod was enough.
Looking back, I wish I used this quote as well. Not only does this quote reflect the discrimination aspect of the text, but Rankine was able to address the elephant in the room which was Williams’ race.