The book starts off with Emira Tucker, a young black woman, accused of kidnapping the white toddler she is babysitting while at a grocery store. While race is not mentioned in the altercation, it is clear that this would not have happened if Emira were white. Kelley, a white man and a witness to the incident at the grocery store, eventually becomes Emira’s boyfriend. 

Emira’s employer, Alix, feels desperately apologetic for the incident and wants to befriend Emira, treating her like “family”, unaware herself that her reasons for doing so are misled and very much coming from a “white saviour” complex. Alix tries to convince Emira that Kelley is using her, from his track record of only wanting to have black friends and only dating black women. Kelley in turn wants Emira to quit her job, claiming that Alix has always been blind to her privilege and that black people have always been collateral in her actions. 

Throughout the book, the intentions of both Alix and Kelley seem good, and I found myself oscillating between supporting Alix and then Kelley. It is clear toward the end though that both characters have some ingrained racism that none are aware of: Alix feeling like she can provide for Emira, even though Emira never asked her to. And Kelley exclusively dating black women, which at first might come off as “progressive” but in fact really is racist. 

This book conveys the idea that being “racist” doesn’t always mean hurling insults and being malicious. Racism can be embedded into society, and people can exhibit racist behaviour without them even knowing or intending to. A hard book to dissect, thoughtful read.