Structure

Just Us consists of 21 chapters, which can be read as distinct essays but also work together effectively to explore themes of racial discord and injustice in the United States and how these issues affect the relationships people have with one another. Each chapter approaches this subject from a slightly different angle, and most contain anecdotes or conversations from the author's real life. Rankine is an award-winning poet, so there are also poems interspersed throughout—the opening chapter, “liminal spaces i,” is a poem about seeking a solution to racial injustice through dialogue, one of the principal themes of the book. The chapter “ethical loneliness” ends with an erasure poem Rankine has constructed out of the prose from the beginning of the chapter, allowing the reader to gain a new perspective on what Rankine and her friend have been saying to each other about the play and her...