JUST US: BOOK REVIEW
Claudia Rankine has been doing the work to unpack racism and the effects of white supremacy in America. She’s been doing the work since her first book, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric, and continued to do so with her second book, Citizen: An American Lyric. Once Rankine had our attention, she delivered the final book in the trilogy, Just Us: An American Conversation. While she may have delivered a more artistic and palatable message on racism through Citizen, Just Us is unambiguous and straightforward. Through this book, Rankine presents cited facts while exploring every avenue of thought on a multitude of topics in an effort to address them before they become deeply embedded in our society. Just Us is the perfect book for this moment, as we can no longer afford to ignore the prejudice and violence committed against Black people in America. We all need to hold ourselves more accountable, not just for our words and actions, but for our thoughts, too.
Just Us, An American Conversation is Claudia Rankine’s way of inviting us into today’s conversation about race by drawing our attention to everyday exchanges, the implications of which we may take for granted. By using her personal experiences as case studies and sources for deep reflection, Rankine is able to present factual information and make meaning out of it, which, in turn, invites the reader to extrapolate such meaning from their own lives. Rankine brings us along as she recounts various experiences she has had at the airport, in the workplace, at her daughter’s school, and in conversations with friends and strangers. As she does so, she is open about her own thought processes and simultaneously encourages the readers to consider their own reactions more deeply as well. This is her careful construction of this work as a conversation. As I read each section, I never felt directly implicated by Rankine’s words, but was drawn to think critically about my own racial biases and unconscious thought patterns.
Rankine utilizes an unconventional layout for her book, inviting the reader to peruse her sources and form their own opinions. Instead of simply listing her sources at the end, unattached to particular sentences or phrases, they are provided on the left page alongside her writing, which is on the right page. A red dot is placed in the margin of her writing to indicate how the source was used. Sometimes we see that Rankine misattributed a quote or idea through the fact-checking provided to us, which is made obvious within the text, or it is complicated slightly by the inclusion of the facts. As a reader, I was able to choose whether or not I wanted to engage with that left page as I read, or if I trusted Rankine’s research and wanted to stay immersed in her story and thought process on the right-hand page. This is not a technique I have seen employed before, and it made for an interactive reading experience. Several of the sources cited are ones I was familiar with, and even more of them are sources I hope to revisit in the future on my own time.
I believe Rankine hopes to reinvent the ways in which we participate in tough conversations about racism in America and the many forms it has come to take. She sets this intent up from the start of her book with a section entitled “what if,” daring us as readers to challenge ourselves as we begin to read. The few short poems at the start let us get warmed up for the work that follows. From there, we are challenged from start to finish by Rankine herself. She dares us to delve as deep as she does into our internalized racism and bias, to spend just a few moments unpacking the words we use and hear, and to read further. As racism continues to remain at the forefront of current events, this is just what we need. So many people have asked me, “Now what?” Now, we listen to writers like Rankine as they show us how we can become better at noticing, calling out, and reflecting on racism in America.