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This is one heavy book, both literally and figuratively. Literally, the hardcover is filled with heavier pages that feel like they have the same kind of acid-free coating you see in glossy brochures. Figuratively, the subject matter is relentlessly focused on white privilege or if you prefer "the culture of whiteness" or if you prefer racism.

Interestingly, while billed as essays and poems, it's pretty much entirely essays, many of them about conversations and experiences Rankine has had where the subject of white privilege rears its "Who, me?" head. Some of these reminisces are more uncomfortable than others, but they all lead to a greater point. Whites, even progressive and liberal whites, don't know the half of it (even if they want to). Then you get the whites who DON'T want to know the half of it. Or any of it, for that matter.

Some people come back at Rankine and say, "What about Obama?" as if having a black president proved that whites have overcome and racism is in decline. But then you look inside the numbers. In Obama's first run for the presidency in 2008, white voters voted for McCain over Obama by a 55% to 43% margin. In his second run in 2012, the number of white voters choosing Romney over Obama was 59% to 39%. It was Black, Asian, and Hispanic voters who pulled Obama across the finish line in both cases.

And, of course, we know what happened in 2016, when a man as good at racial dog whistles as George Wallace ran for office. In 2016, Trump won 62% of the votes from white males and 47% from white females. Even after his disastrous first term, even after the lack of planning or plans for Covid and all the related deaths because of this, even after all positions of power in his administration have been filled by sycophants and loyalists vs. people with talent and ability in that field, Trump is still in a horse race for re-election, and he's polling best with (3 guesses!) whites -- especially white males. Given his record and vile personality, how could that be?

Rhetorical question, I guess, and one reason I read this book. Rankine offers up a lot of interesting situations, discussions, and scenarios, including as she goes fact checks and research to back up some of her thoughts. Uncomfortable? Yes, and no matter what color your skin. She even implicates herself at times. It's amazing how much we DON'T think about all this, given how it plays out on a daily basis around us. Maybe, after reading this, that will change, and there can be no better word in our present climate than CHANGE.

Let's hope it starts on Jan. 20, 2021, for one. The rest, though, is up to all of us, not other people or people in power alone.