Other scenes describe a white co-worker confusing the names of the only two black women who work in the office a white woman exclaiming that “I didn’t know black women could get cancer” (45) a friend asking why a black woman always “looks so angry” (46) a co-worker asking a black colleague why black professors are “always on sabbatical,” despite the fact that everyone has the same sabbatical schedule (47) a real estate agent who awkwardly announces how comfortable she is around black people (51) a white cashier who questions if a black person’s credit card will work (54). Maybe she wants to have a belated conversation about Don Imus and the women’s basketball team he insulted with this language (42). You are in Catholic school and a girl who you can't remember is looking over your shoulder as you take a test. In this memory, a secondary memory is evoked, but this time it is the author's memory. Maybe the content of her statement is irrelevant and she only means to signal the stereotype of ‘black people time’ by employing what she perceives to be ‘black people language.’ Maybe she is jealous of whoever kept you and wants to suggest you are nothing or everything to her. Rankine begins the first section by asking the reader to recall a time of utter listlessness. The subject guesses as to why her friend might have called her this: After being just a little late, the friend, who is black, refers to the subject as a “nappy-headed ho” (41). In the first moment, the subject is late for a date with a friend in California: “You are rushing to meet a friend in a distant neighborhood of Santa Monica” (41).
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