Book, Just Us: An American Conversation[LS]

The title of this book contains a pun that is untranslatable into Portuguese. "Just us", the original formulation, echoes the word "justice". The origin of this sound game is a phrase by comedian Richard Pryor, also used in the epigraph: "You go there looking for justice, and what you find, only us". In other words: for a black person, going to court in search of justice means only encountering black people as defendants. This gulf between the universal notion of justice, "justice", and the segregationist idea behind "just us" is the core of Claudia Rankine's argument. Here, however, racism is not seen in terms of its most violent forms, such as the murder of George Floyd by the American police. Their subtle expressions, hidden beneath the politeness of enlightened and progressive white people, are at stake. The author examines typical situations in her social circle, made up of intellectuals and artists. The book was born out of this curiosity: what if she randomly asked white people how they view their own privilege? At the airport, at the theater, at a dinner with friends or at an analysis session, she spots situations — gestures, dialogues, flawed acts — in which neutrality and good manners reveal beliefs and prejudices typical of white supremacy. In a brilliant arrangement of essays, poems and images, the book is emphatic in showing that "white privilege" is not limited to an economic issue. Being white means being able to come and go. It is, above all, being able to live.