Quote by Claudia Rankine: “The past doesn't just disappear. It leaves traces.”

This quote emphasizes that historical injustices and traumas persist into the present, influencing current realities and leaving lasting impacts on individuals and societies. The effects of history are never truly gone; they linger and shape the world around us.

Discussing how historical racism and societal structures continue to affect contemporary experiences, especially for Black Americans, and how personal narratives are shaped by collective history.

Jamaican-American poet and essayist whose genre-bending collection Citizen: An American Lyric won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2014. Her work explores race, belonging, and the accumulation of everyday indignity with formal innovation.