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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Rankine write that she is trying to understand in the very beginning of Part III?
(a) Why telling a white male he has benefitted from white male privilege feels abusive to him.
(b) Why so many people declined to be interviewed for her book.
(c) Why saying someone is racist seems offensive to that person.
(d) Why working as a researcher pays so little.

2. What trope does Rankine worry she is "sailing closer" to in Part III?
(a) That of the tough boss.
(b) That of the strident academic woman.
(c) That of the angry Black woman.
(d) That of the overbearing mother.

3. Which of the following young Black men was violently killed for no cause in 2012?
(a) Martin Davis.
(b) George Floyd.
(c) Rauri Stone.
(d) Trayvon Martin.

4. What television series starring Reese Witherspoon does Rankine reference in the text in Part III?
(a) Little Fires Everywhere.
(b) Wysteria Lane.
(c) Homecoming.
(d) Big Little Lies.

5. What does Rankine write that she would have preferred from the woman who tried to change the subject from racism at the dinner party instead of "false civility"?
(a) Directness.
(b) Fortitude.
(c) Reproach.
(d) Screaming.

6. In Part IV, what does Rankine write that a "force within the whiteness" does?
(a) Wins the fights.
(b) Brings privilege to bear.
(c) Forces the whiteness.
(d) Silences Blacks.

7. Where does Rankine say the phrase "people of color" originally came from?
(a) The court case Loving v. Virginia.
(b) Women of color.
(c) The great migration.
(d) The court case Brown v. The Board of Education.

8. What claim of psychologist Kristina Olson's does Rankine cite on children and racial preferences?
(a) By about 15 years of age, American children show no real racial preferences.
(b) By about 3 months old, American, Canadia, and Australian children show some signs of racial preferences.
(c) By 3 or 4 years of age, white children in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe show preferences for other white children.
(d) By about 10 years of age, American children show racial preferences.

9. Which Latino poet does Rankine discuss briefly with her friend in Part IV?
(a) Jiminez Gutierriez.
(b) Jose Marti.
(c) Rafael Bolo.
(d) Roberto Beto.

10. Which actress does Rankine mention as being blacklisted in the 1960s?
(a) Eartha Kitt.
(b) Marilyn Monroe.
(c) Halle Berry.
(d) Sandra Bullock.

11. What is the audience instructed to do at the end of the play in Part III?
(a) White audience members were invited onto the stage and Black audience members were asked to stay in their seats.
(b) They were asked to get a glass of water and take it outside.
(c) They were asked to clap very loudly.
(d) They were asked to pull the fire alarms in the theater.

12. What does Rankine write that George Wallace attributed his political success to?
(a) Trying to preserve the history of the South.
(b) Lowering taxes.
(c) The articulation of racist rhetoric.
(d) Helping farmers.

13. What does conversing risk mean, according to Rankine in Part IV?
(a) The unraveling of the said and the unsaid.
(b) Silence.
(c) Destruction.
(d) Persecution.

14. What does Rankine believe is foundational to all our problems in America?
(a) Unequal access to higher education.
(b) Anti-Black racism.
(c) Economic inequality.
(d) Poisoned water systems.

15. What does the sign the man in the photograph on page 140 of this book say?
(a) I do not have enough food to eat; how can I be privileged?
(b) No whites, no service.
(c) I am not white male privilege.
(d) I am not ashamed/afraid to be white.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did a young boy tell his classmate, who was the child of a friend of Rankine's, he had done by giving Goldilocks dark skin in a picture he colored?

2. What was one argument the NYPD Union lawyers put forth in the death of Eric Garner at police hands, according to Rankine?

3. What does one white man tell Rankine he believes is his greatest privilege in his life in Part III?

4. What is a common critical response to the Black Lives Matter slogan?

5. Which comedian does Rankine call out in Part IV for revealing parts of his racial identity but not revealing other parts of his racial identity?

(see the answer keys)

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