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272 pages, Hardcover
First published June 11, 2024
"Jasmyn studies the woman's hairline. It's funny how much hair can tell you about the kind of person you're dealing with. To Jasmyn's mind, using creamy crack is a sure sign of being an unenlightened Black woman."
"Jasmyn studies Keisha. One of the necessary skills of her job is the ability to spot a liar. This woman doesn't seem like one. With her big Afro, her loud clothes, and her louder laugh, she seems a damn sight more authentic than Catherine Vail did."
"Of course Jasmyn has met her type before. She's one of *those* Black people, too delicate to face up to the world we live in. The kind that looks away and pretends that if she can't see the world's violence against Black people, it isn't happpening. Jasmyn has never understood, or agreed with, that way of being. She always clicks the headlines. She always watches the videos. Why should she feel safe and comfortable when yet another Black man is dead? No. It isn't OK to look away. She always watches. Bears witness."
“This, Jasmyn thinks, is the thing about being Black in America. Any conversation with a non-Black person could take a turn at any time. You think you’re talking about one thing, but the other person is always somehow talking about your Blackness.”
“Inside her chest, her heart beats a familiar rhythm. Fear and anger. Anger and fear. She closes her eyes and wishes, just for a moment, she could teach her heart a different song and, too, some other history.”
“My Blackness is not a problem. Racism is the problem.”
“You ever think maybe you’re wrong?” he asks.
“About what?”
“All of it. Maybe the solution to racism isn’t to fight.”
“What other choice do we have? We can’t just give up.”
“Not give up,” he says. “Give in.” He turns then and walks away.
“I was in our pharmacy the other day and the security guard didn’t follow me around.” Tricia laughs and shakes her head. “I hate how they do that. Like, what? I’m going to shoplift some cough syrup or some crappy lipstick?” “Right? It’s ridiculous,” says Jasmyn. “Know what else? I haven’t been mistaken for an employee in any place there yet, either.” Tricia slaps the table. “Listen. That. Shit. Is. Not. Funny,” she says, punctuating each word with a clap. “I could be wearing a damn wedding dress and some somebody is going to come up to me and ask what aisle they can find the tampons in.”
“That right there is another reason to get a Black doctor. You know white doctors prescribe less pain medicine for Black patients than for white ones?” “I’d heard something like that,” Tricia says. “These people, I tell you.” Jasmyn shakes her head. “Remember the Tuskegee syphilis thing? They let those poor men suffer—” “Ease up, baby,” King says, finally. “We celebrating right now.” Jasmyn looks at Tricia and Dwight and realizes they’re frowning down into their drinks. “Shit, my bad,” she says. “I’m sorry. I got carried away. Sometimes the world gets to be a lot. There’s just so much injustice, you know?”
12.05.2022 a psychological thriller that is The Stepford Wives meets Get Out!