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jdintr's review against another edition
3.0
America needs racial justice. I believe that with all my heart, and I try to back that principle up with my actions (as a teacher, a Christian, a partner in community enterprises).
I also commit my brain to endorsing racial justice by seeking out Black voices. I take the voices I read, like Isabel Wilkerson and Tanehisi Coates, and I put them right into my curriculum at school. I'm not surprised by the seismic cultural changes, and I don't want this generation to be surprised either.
And yet, despite my commitment to racial justice, people treat me--a white, Christian, male, cisgender Southerner--like I just put took off a red MAGA hat before endorsing their perspective. On Twitter, I was blocked by an African-American author whom I had promoted and taught in my classroom. I lost a contract when a comment was misconstrued as racist. My own child took me to task this summer for my initial reaction to her boyfriend--a man of a different race--explaining in painfully elementary terms the words that I should and shouldn't say about him or in his presence.
Now if you're still reading this review, by now, I'm sure you're wondering, "Dear James, this should be a review of Just Us, not about you.
You might look in my closet for that MEGA hat. (I don't own one. It's sad that I need to put this in writing.)
But here's the point: the book, Just Us IS about me. It's more about me than about any other topic. That's because Rankine is obsessed about White Privilege, and her book connects the dots between random conversations she has with strangers who may or may not realize how clueless they are--who may or may not be hiding a MAGA hat in their carry-on bags.
That's not to say that her book isn't good. It is. Full of unique insights and meaningful connections. It just feels like they are darts aimed at the same square centimeter of the dart board. If readers are looking for more evidence of white malfeasance, they will find it here. If they themselves are white, they will get an earful.
One good example is an exchange Rankine shares with a colleague who had studied white attitudes about the seismic changes I mentioned above:
What about me? If I had a misconstrued stereotype of my whiteness and maleness, they were exploded by reading. I was never the same after the spring of 1992 when I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Native Son, and they were obliterated by the horrible injustice that led to the LA riots two months later.
For a reader like me, who considers himself liberal but who is consistently mis-branded because of my race, faith, and gender, there wasn't a lot new in Just Us . The "American Conversation" of the subtitle felt more like a diatribe.
But I did enjoy the book. Rankine's use of multimedia--and her reference to interesting artists whom I looked up as I made my way through the book--is welcome, and really helps to amplify her message. I just wish that I could find Black voices who are inclusive and encouraging to the likes of me, less strident.
I also commit my brain to endorsing racial justice by seeking out Black voices. I take the voices I read, like Isabel Wilkerson and Tanehisi Coates, and I put them right into my curriculum at school. I'm not surprised by the seismic cultural changes, and I don't want this generation to be surprised either.
And yet, despite my commitment to racial justice, people treat me--a white, Christian, male, cisgender Southerner--like I just put took off a red MAGA hat before endorsing their perspective. On Twitter, I was blocked by an African-American author whom I had promoted and taught in my classroom. I lost a contract when a comment was misconstrued as racist. My own child took me to task this summer for my initial reaction to her boyfriend--a man of a different race--explaining in painfully elementary terms the words that I should and shouldn't say about him or in his presence.
Now if you're still reading this review, by now, I'm sure you're wondering, "Dear James, this should be a review of Just Us, not about you.
You might look in my closet for that MEGA hat. (I don't own one. It's sad that I need to put this in writing.)
But here's the point: the book, Just Us IS about me. It's more about me than about any other topic. That's because Rankine is obsessed about White Privilege, and her book connects the dots between random conversations she has with strangers who may or may not realize how clueless they are--who may or may not be hiding a MAGA hat in their carry-on bags.
That's not to say that her book isn't good. It is. Full of unique insights and meaningful connections. It just feels like they are darts aimed at the same square centimeter of the dart board. If readers are looking for more evidence of white malfeasance, they will find it here. If they themselves are white, they will get an earful.
One good example is an exchange Rankine shares with a colleague who had studied white attitudes about the seismic changes I mentioned above:
"I asked Dow what he learned in his conversations with white men. 'They are strugling to construct a just narrative for themselves as new information comes in, and they are having to refashion their own narratives and coming up short.... We are seeing the deconstruction of the white-male archetype. The individual actor on the grand stage always had the support of a genocidal government, but this is not the narrative we grew up with.'"
What about me? If I had a misconstrued stereotype of my whiteness and maleness, they were exploded by reading. I was never the same after the spring of 1992 when I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Native Son, and they were obliterated by the horrible injustice that led to the LA riots two months later.
For a reader like me, who considers himself liberal but who is consistently mis-branded because of my race, faith, and gender, there wasn't a lot new in Just Us . The "American Conversation" of the subtitle felt more like a diatribe.
But I did enjoy the book. Rankine's use of multimedia--and her reference to interesting artists whom I looked up as I made my way through the book--is welcome, and really helps to amplify her message. I just wish that I could find Black voices who are inclusive and encouraging to the likes of me, less strident.
pattydsf's review against another edition
4.0
“Among white people, black people are allowed to talk about their precarious lives, but they are not allowed to implicate the present company in that precariousness. They are not allowed to point out its causes. In ‘Sexism—a Problem with a Name,’ Sara Ahmed writes that ‘if you name the problem you become the problem.’ To create discomfort by pointing out facts is seen as socially unacceptable. Let’s get over ourselves, it’s structural not personal, I want to shout at everyone, including myself.”
I cannot do justice to this book. I am repeating myself because that is close to what I said about Rankin’s book Citizen. This book is a powerful look at our country from someone who has a very different viewpoint than most people I know. I want to talk to someone about Rankins words, her ideas and where she takes her readers in these essays.
I am discomforted by much of what she has to say. Many of the essays made me consider the world in new ways. The essay that struck me the hardest is on blondeness, but they are all changing my viewpoint.
What will we ever do about this whiteness that so many Americans cannot see and those who see it and are privileged by it won’t give it up?
I cannot do justice to this book. I am repeating myself because that is close to what I said about Rankin’s book Citizen. This book is a powerful look at our country from someone who has a very different viewpoint than most people I know. I want to talk to someone about Rankins words, her ideas and where she takes her readers in these essays.
I am discomforted by much of what she has to say. Many of the essays made me consider the world in new ways. The essay that struck me the hardest is on blondeness, but they are all changing my viewpoint.
What will we ever do about this whiteness that so many Americans cannot see and those who see it and are privileged by it won’t give it up?
emmaito's review against another edition
4.0
"I sometimes joke that my optimism has been stolen by white supremacy.
Don't be burdened by white supremacy, my friend responds.
The 'toomuchness' of our present reality sometimes gives rise to humor but could occasion disassociation, detachment from engagement, a refusal to engage in our democractic practices given how structural and invasive white supremacy remains.
A white supremacist orientation is packaged as universal thinking and objective seeing, which insists on the erasure of anyone - my actual presence, my humanity - who disrupts its reflection. Its form of being.
The idea that one can stand apart is a nice fantasy but we can't afford fantasies."
claudia rankine's just us: an american conversation is a powerful book that requires a lot of sitting with it. i loved the format of this book, which felt so unique. claudia rankine shares with us & reflects on her experiences & thoughts on whiteness in the United States through not just her excellent writing, but also through poetry, photos, & historical documents. my copy is dotted with tabs, pointing to not just memorable quotes, but also to sources that rankine gives for deeper understanding. this book is not a quick read, but it is well-worth the time.
Don't be burdened by white supremacy, my friend responds.
The 'toomuchness' of our present reality sometimes gives rise to humor but could occasion disassociation, detachment from engagement, a refusal to engage in our democractic practices given how structural and invasive white supremacy remains.
A white supremacist orientation is packaged as universal thinking and objective seeing, which insists on the erasure of anyone - my actual presence, my humanity - who disrupts its reflection. Its form of being.
The idea that one can stand apart is a nice fantasy but we can't afford fantasies."
claudia rankine's just us: an american conversation is a powerful book that requires a lot of sitting with it. i loved the format of this book, which felt so unique. claudia rankine shares with us & reflects on her experiences & thoughts on whiteness in the United States through not just her excellent writing, but also through poetry, photos, & historical documents. my copy is dotted with tabs, pointing to not just memorable quotes, but also to sources that rankine gives for deeper understanding. this book is not a quick read, but it is well-worth the time.
marireadstoomuch's review against another edition
5.0
Incredible read, as expected from Rankine’s work. Thoughtful, probing, measured.
Some quotations, leaning heavily towards engagements with whiteness that stood out to me as a white person. Due to the nature of the citations as inter text, the following also includes other voices:
“The lack of an integrated life meant that no part of his life recognized the treatment of black peoples as an important disturbance. To not remember is perhaps not to feel touched by events that don’t interfere with your livelihood. This is the reality that defines white privilege no matter how much money one has or doesn’t have.”
Thinking about integration/having conversations in all-white rooms (and suggested reading Elizabeth Anderson’s The Imperative of Integration): “But if you’re white and you’re getting messages from your surroundings that reaffirms the idea that white solidarity is the way to organize your world, even while doing anti racist work, then how are you not going to believe that a constructed all-white world isn’t you at your most functioning? How isn’t that going to feel natural and right? Stark, yes. Ironic, yes.”
“If white people don’t see their whiteness, how can they speak to it? ...Does diversity not include any training to see ourselves or is it simply about addressing black grievance?”
“Understanding what is possible on the part of liberal whites means understanding that black personal achievement does not negate the continued assault of white terrorism”
“It’s harder than you would think because white people don’t really want change if it means they need to think differently than they do about who they are.”
“Among white people, black people are allowed to talk about their precarious lives, but they are not allowed to implicate the present company in that precariousness. They are not allowed to point out its causes. In ‘Sexism—a Problem with a Name,’ Sara Ahmed writes that ‘if you name the problem you’ve become the problem.’ To create discomfort by pointing out facts is seen as socially unacceptable. Let’s get over ourselves, it’s structural not personal, I want to shout at everyone, including myself.”
Sara Ahmed in “The Phenomenology of Whiteness”: “To give a problem a name can change not only how we register an event but whether we register an event. To give the problem a name can be experienced as magnifying the problem; allowing something to acquire a social and physical density by gathering up what otherwise remain scattered experiences to a tangible thing.”
“...could it be the students have divested from the performance of exceptional blackness, a performance that will never save us from the actions of ordinary whiteness...”
“The question is not really whether we’ll be tied to the somethings of our past, but whether we are courageous enough to be tied to the whole of them” -Ta-Nehisi Coates’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, 19 June 2019
Some quotations, leaning heavily towards engagements with whiteness that stood out to me as a white person. Due to the nature of the citations as inter text, the following also includes other voices:
“The lack of an integrated life meant that no part of his life recognized the treatment of black peoples as an important disturbance. To not remember is perhaps not to feel touched by events that don’t interfere with your livelihood. This is the reality that defines white privilege no matter how much money one has or doesn’t have.”
Thinking about integration/having conversations in all-white rooms (and suggested reading Elizabeth Anderson’s The Imperative of Integration): “But if you’re white and you’re getting messages from your surroundings that reaffirms the idea that white solidarity is the way to organize your world, even while doing anti racist work, then how are you not going to believe that a constructed all-white world isn’t you at your most functioning? How isn’t that going to feel natural and right? Stark, yes. Ironic, yes.”
“If white people don’t see their whiteness, how can they speak to it? ...Does diversity not include any training to see ourselves or is it simply about addressing black grievance?”
“Understanding what is possible on the part of liberal whites means understanding that black personal achievement does not negate the continued assault of white terrorism”
“It’s harder than you would think because white people don’t really want change if it means they need to think differently than they do about who they are.”
“Among white people, black people are allowed to talk about their precarious lives, but they are not allowed to implicate the present company in that precariousness. They are not allowed to point out its causes. In ‘Sexism—a Problem with a Name,’ Sara Ahmed writes that ‘if you name the problem you’ve become the problem.’ To create discomfort by pointing out facts is seen as socially unacceptable. Let’s get over ourselves, it’s structural not personal, I want to shout at everyone, including myself.”
Sara Ahmed in “The Phenomenology of Whiteness”: “To give a problem a name can change not only how we register an event but whether we register an event. To give the problem a name can be experienced as magnifying the problem; allowing something to acquire a social and physical density by gathering up what otherwise remain scattered experiences to a tangible thing.”
“...could it be the students have divested from the performance of exceptional blackness, a performance that will never save us from the actions of ordinary whiteness...”
“The question is not really whether we’ll be tied to the somethings of our past, but whether we are courageous enough to be tied to the whole of them” -Ta-Nehisi Coates’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, 19 June 2019
sausome's review against another edition
3.0
This was an interesting look at racism through a more free-form, conversational lens, while still feeling fairly academic. It felt a bit like a memoir-style analysis of a professor's class experiences, merged with personal experiences with everyday racism. There are often not solid answers, and generally more questions, and in this way, the book felt like it was discussing philosophy. I'm not sure this style will resonate/connect with everyone, and it didn't quite get there with me, but it is definitely a good book to add to the antiracist cannon. I can imagine anyone teaching about antiracism or African American Studies or Black Studies, would find this an invaluable resource to support and add further discussion points and sources to turn to.
sageblue47's review against another edition
4.0
I will read whatever Rankine puts out. I prefer Citizen to this, but this is still great: incisive, emotional, raw. The final piece gives hope amongst the despair and calls for us all to keep searching and engaging.
drewboo's review against another edition
“...response is my strategy. Endless response and study and adjustments and compromises become a life.
.... remaining in the quotidian of disturbance is our way of staying honest until another strategy offers another pathway, a yet to be imagined pathway that allows existing structures to stop replicating”
.... remaining in the quotidian of disturbance is our way of staying honest until another strategy offers another pathway, a yet to be imagined pathway that allows existing structures to stop replicating”
onepecan's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
mhkloster's review against another edition
5.0
This book’s exploration of white privilege really challenged me. Her poetic style of writing sometimes had me confused, but her style of questioning and exploring her own thoughts and responses to situations or people made me feel like I was part of the conversation.