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A review by dreamgalaxies
Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine
5.0
4.5 stars. I immediately added this book to my TBR as soon as I saw it was being released because I found Rankine's work in Citizen so foundational to my understanding of Black life and white supremacist violence in the US. I highly recommend that book, which seems to me part of a sort of trilogy along with this book and Don't Let Me Be Lonely. This book differs, however, in that it is not as focused on poetry but instead dwells mostly in the space of personal essays. Of course, it is not easily classified, as it relies like Rankine's other work also on visual images and a variety of forms.
I was especially eager to read this book because the Racial Imaginary Institute that Rankine co-founded has been so inspiring to my own work, especially after seeing the Institute's panel at AWP on writing whiteness. The panel emphasized something I've learned doing antiracist training; reckoning not just with the race of POC but very specifically with your own whiteness is critical to learning to check your racial biases...as is accepting we have these biases and they are a part of us forever, mitigated somewhat by the work we do to challenge them. As Rankine asks the reader, “what are you thinking when you’re not thinking?”
I see some reviews complaining that this book is sort of behind the times because of its focus on the personal when discourse has moved somewhat toward the structural and supposedly "race blind" policies that continue to intensely negatively affect BIPOC in this country.
As someone who sees capitalism as an exceptionally harmful economic system I totally agree that a focus on structural policies is critical, but I also think that we need both. The extent to which even black people in non-precarious economic positions face this level of racism tells us all we need to know about that.
I think that the focus on personal interactions and Rankine’s deeply personalized analysis could help build a deeper understanding of interpersonal racism for white people who think they’ve got it all figured out. Said people when focusing on the structural often seem not to implicate themselves a bit when they can focus on structural issues that they are ‘not participating in.’
I don’t think Rankine should have to be asking the questions she is about what whiteness means to white people, but that’s still where we are in America today. I will say that I found the sections that were focused on other concepts (gender, Latinx identity) to fall a bit flat, maybe just in comparison to how Rankine’s expertise in Black identity shines. I was somewhat surprised how little she seemed to know about Latinx struggles but I appreciate her being candid about it here. One thing I found unsuccessful here were the attempts the author made to ‘fact check’ herself. I think this may have been a tongue in cheek reference to the world of alternative fact we all live in now but it didn’t land for me. Regardless, I did appreciate the additional notes and sources these sections provided.
I was especially eager to read this book because the Racial Imaginary Institute that Rankine co-founded has been so inspiring to my own work, especially after seeing the Institute's panel at AWP on writing whiteness. The panel emphasized something I've learned doing antiracist training; reckoning not just with the race of POC but very specifically with your own whiteness is critical to learning to check your racial biases...as is accepting we have these biases and they are a part of us forever, mitigated somewhat by the work we do to challenge them. As Rankine asks the reader, “what are you thinking when you’re not thinking?”
I see some reviews complaining that this book is sort of behind the times because of its focus on the personal when discourse has moved somewhat toward the structural and supposedly "race blind" policies that continue to intensely negatively affect BIPOC in this country.
As someone who sees capitalism as an exceptionally harmful economic system I totally agree that a focus on structural policies is critical, but I also think that we need both. The extent to which even black people in non-precarious economic positions face this level of racism tells us all we need to know about that.
I think that the focus on personal interactions and Rankine’s deeply personalized analysis could help build a deeper understanding of interpersonal racism for white people who think they’ve got it all figured out. Said people when focusing on the structural often seem not to implicate themselves a bit when they can focus on structural issues that they are ‘not participating in.’
I don’t think Rankine should have to be asking the questions she is about what whiteness means to white people, but that’s still where we are in America today. I will say that I found the sections that were focused on other concepts (gender, Latinx identity) to fall a bit flat, maybe just in comparison to how Rankine’s expertise in Black identity shines. I was somewhat surprised how little she seemed to know about Latinx struggles but I appreciate her being candid about it here. One thing I found unsuccessful here were the attempts the author made to ‘fact check’ herself. I think this may have been a tongue in cheek reference to the world of alternative fact we all live in now but it didn’t land for me. Regardless, I did appreciate the additional notes and sources these sections provided.