Citizen: An American Lyric III by Claudia Rankine Lyrics

At the end of a brief conversation, you tell the manager you are speaking with that you will come by his office to sign the form. When you arrive and announce yourself, he blurts out, didn't know you were black!

I didn't mean to say that, he then says.

Aloud, you say.

What? He asks.

You didn't mean to say that aloud.

Your transaction goes swiftly after that.