They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

An epigraph is a quote from another author or source that precedes the body of a text. Including an epigraph creates a conversation between the quoted work and the text, allowing the author to highlight similarities or provide background information.

Hanif Abdurraqib begins They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us with two epigraphs: one from the Black playwright Lorraine Hansberry and one from the Black rapper Lil Uzi Vert. At first glance, it appears that these two artists have nothing in common. However, both artists are talking about the same concept: living and surviving. By choosing two artists from radically different genres and time periods, Abdurraqib shows that this essay collection will span multiple time periods and genres while exploring the Black experience in America. He also suggests the continuity of that experience due to the persistence of racism across time.

Abdurraqib often speaks to the reader using the second-person singular pronoun “you.” This operates as a direct address—a specific address to a specific person. By choosing to directly address the reader, Abdurraqib intensifies the intimacy of his work, asking the reader to actively participate with him in the text.

These direct addresses also invite the reader to imagine or empathize, often encouraging them to rethink popular narratives about Black people and thus supporting the theme of