The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together Hardcover – February 16, 2021

This is a truly great, breakthrough book. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Author Heather McGhee takes on American racism in a whole new way (for me), crisscrossing the country and relentlessly bringing the reader face to face with the universal damage and waste caused by racial discrimination and injustice. But somehow, she suffuses it all with love."The Sum of Us" is not an easy read for us white Americans, not at all. It can be excruciating. McGhee goes into every corner of our social, political, industrial and economic systems unsparingly, with history- and data-driven facts, and it’s never been made clearer to me just how pervasive racism is, how it was deliberately mapped out and built in—what that word “systemic” really means.But I never, ever felt stigmatized or belittled. I never got that “Now YOU are the despised ‘other’” message I sometimes get from antiracist polemicists.McGhee is profoundly merciful and even startlingly empathetic to us white folks, telling us how the upper echelon has bamboozled us into our untenable position, how much racism hurts us as well, its blowback hitting us too (as in toxic environments we mistakenly think we're safe from 'cause we're across "the tracks"), sometimes in even greater numbers than it does people of color, since there are more of us.Her most vivid, urgent message is how much we can help ourselves by letting go of the lie of the “Zero-Sum Economic Model” that keeps us in constant fear and resentment by telling us that if those "others" gain anything, we will lose something— when in truth, an economic boom for Black Americans would expand both our public and private economies exponentially, and bring more prosperity to us all.It’s the concept of the “solidarity dividend”—that whites could improve our lot (for we are struggling too, all over) by finding common cause with Black Americans, how it has already been proven that this happens when we make the effort and overcome our irrational fear.Black America is a treasure we’ve buried at the behest of not just the hateful, vengeful former Confederacy and its Northern industrial and banking partners, but of the political ruling class, who want us to trust them more than each other. Remember that “trickle-down” mantra, about how we white folks on the floor would catch the best crumbs from the plutocrats’ table? It’s a baldly false promise.Politicians helped raise up a prosperous white middle class with racially exclusionary government programs like the New Deal and the G.I. Bill, proving that government could do great things-- for us. Then, once so many of us were thriving, they convinced us that such government programs were downright evil-- and the beneficiaries lazy freeloaders-- when they benefited nonwhites. So now, there are no such bold, broad programs for anybody, of any race, but whites are brainwashed to console ourselves with the illusion that at least we’re not at the very bottom of the boat.McGhee’s inspired, perfect recurring analogy is government-subsidized public pools, built for us in a midcentury surge, but that we shut down rather than comply with court orders to admit Black swimmers. The result? No one had a pool except rich people. And many of the remnants of that spite are still there in the shells of these public pools, still empty or half-buried like fossils, visions of a resource we decided we’d rather waste than share.McGhee really reads our beads here. I promise you will twist and cringe if you’re white (though I hope Black readers scarf this book up too, so they’re armed with both its merciful vision and its irrefutable arguments). But you’ll see a path to redemption—our own.Throughout this book, and leavening the pain, McGhee’s love for this country shines through, She ultimately endorses the idea of a true American Exceptionalism, reminding us that our work is so difficult-- so scarred with false starts, failures, conflicts and backlash-- because we’re still a new country, relatively, and because no one has ever tried anything like this before.“Who is an American, and what are we to one another?” she writes. “We have to admit that this question is harder for us than in most other countries, because we are the world’s most radical experiment in democracy: a nation of ancestral strangers that has to work to find connection even as we grow more diverse every day.” After the rough ride we've taken in "The Sum of Us," it’s indescribably wonderful to hear our country affirmed-- and by a Black American woman, no less-- as young, radical, unprecedented and still brimming with potential.

I had no idea what I was getting into with this book, but I think everyone should read it. Takes a historical look at how racism has affected every process in the USA and why we’re at some pivotal points we are currently. Mind blowing content and fascinating read.

As a white person who has tried especially in the last few years to learn more about our country's bitter history of racism, I have learned still more about that racism and just how massively that history affects the present. For example, I had a vague knowledge of "red-lining" from the 1930's, but didn't realize just how directly this was the product of federal government rules, and didn't understand how the redlining of the 30's led to today's segregated neighborhoods, and so many ongoing inequities--the huge difference in home values, the ease with which blacks ave been stuck in environmental disaster areas, the continuing de facto segregation and unequal financing of public schools.There are times when I have found it extremely painful to read more details of this history (and present).BUT: McGhee's purpose with each chapter is to show how racism, whether overt or implicit, hurts ordinary white people and as well as blacks. The damage may be disproportionally wrecked on blacks (and other minorities), but usually the NUMBER of whites hurt is actually greater.AND: This all this is not an accident. There is a small group of highly wealthy influential people (usually white males), who advance "zero-sum thinking" and often subtle racist messages to "divide and conquer"--to keep middle/lower class whites from joining with blacks to advance social and economic policies that would help "the sum of us"--all of us who are not in the 1% of our highly unequal country.She also gives specific examples of situations where blacks and ordinary whites have united to achieve positive results. This involves a lot of work in building coalitions, and sometimes clever messaging to de-fang the old racist tropes, but it can work.I believe her analysis and suggestions offer a way for us to regain our democracy and implement the political, social, and economic changes that most Americans already support in poles--better healthcare, better education, a cleaner environment, really effective steps to reverse climate change, etc.PS: What am I doing, besides educating myself and coming to terms better emotionally with my status as a middle class white person? I live in the benighted state of North Carolina, which is currently running rampant with regressive anti-democratic laws (including a recent 12-week abortion ban), now that the Repubican legislature has a veto-proof majority. So my top priority right now is to help NC become a democracy again. Within my means, I donate money to moderate/progressive local and state candidates. I phone bank and canvass to elect or re-elect good candidates to our legislature. And I plan soon to joint a non-partisan group to help get more folks registered to vote. Not much perhaps, but it's what I can do now.White, black, or ethnic, what are you doing? A good next step is to read this book!

A must read for anyone trying to understand the cost of racism and how it affects us all. Well reasoned and well written

Tolles Buch mit einer Fülle origineller Gedanken und Einsichten! Wow! Die Autorin hat eine beachtliche Leistung erbracht. Chapeau!

Very empirical and historically informed. Loved all the interviews with ground-level people making awesome changes in their communities! Deep insights

Tells the true history. A must read for anyone that cares about this world going forward. An amazing book that you must read.

This book should be read by every American. Then maybe...