INTERVIEWER
And yet, both of those people would likely describe themselves as well-intentioned, even allies of yours.
RANKINE
They came and they engaged. I have a lot more patience and curiosity than I used to for following those arguments, for seeing where they will go. Often somebody will be interrupted by another member of the audience, who will jump in to shut that person down. This either comes out of an intent to protect me or else they're just impatient with a line of thinking they don't agree with. I don't know. But one of the things I do know is that you're not going to change anybody's mind by shutting them down.
Claudia Rankine: The Art of Poetry No. 102, Interviewed by David L. Ulin in Women at Work: Interviews from the Paris Review
And yet, both of those people would likely describe themselves as well-intentioned, even allies of yours.
RANKINE
They came and they engaged. I have a lot more patience and curiosity than I used to for following those arguments, for seeing where they will go. Often somebody will be interrupted by another member of the audience, who will jump in to shut that person down. This either comes out of an intent to protect me or else they're just impatient with a line of thinking they don't agree with. I don't know. But one of the things I do know is that you're not going to change anybody's mind by shutting them down.
Claudia Rankine: The Art of Poetry No. 102, Interviewed by David L. Ulin in Women at Work: Interviews from the Paris Review
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