Claudia Rankine's use of repetition in Citizen is especially moving, particularly in Chapter 6. Rankine repeats the passage, "And you are not the guy and still you fit the description because there is only one guy who is always the guy fitting the description."
Perhaps it is Rankine's decision to write this passage in second person that makes it so personal, but it serves to humanize the victims of police brutality. As depressing as it is, our society has become increasingly numb to the news stories about police brutality that surface much too often. But Rankine forces you into the position of an African American faced with police brutality through her words, and the repetition of this passage shows you how it happens over and over and over again. It has a way of making readers angered by the injustice, but helpless at the same time because how does one go about changing this description that has been fixed for so long? Are the demonstrations, social media posts, and cries for justice not enough?