Clean Getaway

Clean Getaway takes readers on a tour—both literally in G’ma and Scoob’s journey through many of the southern states and figuratively in their conversations—of the racial history of the United States. G’ma and Scoob make references to several historical figures, including Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In doing so and in visiting sites specifically connected to the United States’ racial history brings this history right into the present, giving Scoob and, by extension, the reader more context for the history that they’re exploring, both documenting how much has changed and how much has stayed the same.

When G’ma first hands Scoob the Green Book, he doesn’t completely understand its context and the difficulties that she and G’pop faced because they were an interracial couple. G’ma begins this introduction to the history by saying, “travel around this grand ol’ USA wasn’t always a safe thing for people who look like you. […] that book existed to let Negro travelers know which hotels and such would accept them as customers. There are even some other countries in there” (29). When she hands him the book, she adds, “Might ya learn somethin’,” and indeed, Scoob does (29).