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“If you’re looking for justice, that’s just what you’ll find—just us.”—Richard Pryor

Rankine continues the conversation about racism and white privilege that she began with her book, Citizen: An American Lyric (National Book Award Finalist for Poetry in 2014). She recounts interactions she had when traveling first-class that are similar to what Wilkerson remarked upon in her book Caste. She shares the results of a variety of conversations with friends, and acquaintances that cover a 4-year-old being labeled ‘violent�� to a friend refusing to participate in a call to move to the stage during a theater performance.

While I was reading this book, I was reminded of a quote from Senator Bill Bradley (yes, I am THAT old). He played basketball with black players and roomed with them when the team traveled. Fans felt that he would know what it would feel like to be black. The following was his response:

“I better understand distrust and suspicion. I understand the meaning of certain looks and certain codes. I understand what it is to be in racial situations for which you have no frame of reference. I understand the tension of always being on guard, of never totally relaxing. I understand the pain of racial arrogance directed my way. I understand the loneliness of being white in a black world. And I understand how much I will never know about what it is to be black in America.�� –Senator Bill Bradley at the National Press Club on July 16, 1991.

Rankine is seeking justice, not empathy.