Why American Poet Claudia Rankine Decided to Talk to White Men on Airplanes about Privilege

 

“Often, instead of hearing each other out, civility is used to silence disagreements over discussions on race.”

 

In an interview with CBC, Claudia Rankine, a speaker for the past Phil Lind Initiative 2020 series Thinking While Black, addresses the need to have conversations about white privilege and the role it plays in everyday life, even if it makes us uncomfortable. Rankine recalls how a particular conversation she had with one man on the concept of not seeing race or color resulted in a dialogue about how the reality of a constructed thing like blackness and whiteness has gained power in everyday life.

 

Listen to the full interview here.