Title: The Sum of Us
Author: Heather McGee
Genre: Nonfiction, Politics, Race
Pages: 464
Publication Date: February 8, 2022
StoryGraph* Moods: Informative, Reflective, Hopeful
How I Stumbled Upon This Book: Armchair Expert podcast interview
Other Books by McGhee: The Sum of Us (Adapted for Young Readers)
*StoryGraph also offers content warnings.
Description: McGee explores the concept and disadvantages of zero sum thinking: the idea that progress for some must come at the expense of others (in other words, there is a set amount of success available, and if someone else achieves some, that leaves less for the rest of us). McGee instead argues for the Solidarity Dividend: “the benefits we gain when people come together across race to accomplish what we simply can’t do on our own.”
Why I recommend this book:
To be clear, I go beyond recommending this book – I think it should be required reading (especially for anyone who wants to serve a political office). Through the use of economic data, McGee demonstrates that discriminatory laws and practices aimed at Black folks actually go on to negatively impact everyone. While I wish we lived in a world where non-Black folks could care about these issues without it having to also affect themselves, that’s not reality – so hopefully this angle will help people to care.
Each chapter focuses on race intersecting with another topic – integration, public education and healthcare, homeownership, unionization, the founding of the U.S., segregated living, climate change and the environment, colorblindness, and the benefit of diversity. McGee creates her arguments with intelligence and compassion, and supports it with scholarship (a quarter of the book is her resource list), as well as story and examples – all while making the entire thing readable to even the most general audience. As Sheela Clary of The Berkshire Edge puts it, this is “a book that articulates our problems with compassion and kindness, and inspires me to dig deep and seek out difficult conversations. … Life will be better for all of us if we live as though we’re actually, truly in this together.”
Racism is a systemic construct – not a personal failing. We fail when we try to pretend it’s not there. We fail when we pass off “I don’t see race” as a positive (because it’s not – it erases the lived experience of people of color). We fail when we are out only for ourselves.
Like I said at the start – this should be required reading.
“I’m fundamentally a hopeful person, because I know that decisions made the world as it is and that better decisions can change it. Nothing about our situation is inevitable or immutable, but you can’t solve a problem with the consciousness that created it.” Heather McGee
Ami Maxine 