The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
Book Review
The Sum Of Us BY Heather McGhee
✨BOOK FEATURE✨
Genre: Nonfiction
Length: 448 Pages
Publisher: One World
Publication Date: February 16, 2021
If a single book has the ability to fundamentally change the way Americans view systemic racism and its detrimental impact on American life, it’s this book.
As someone who considers myself decently well educated on the origins and lasting impacts of systemic and institutionalized racism, this book BLEW MY MIND. I didn’t realize the extent to which racial inequity has poisoned essentially every aspect of American society and the resulting degradation that continues to impact nearly ALL Americans (excluding only the top 1%).
In this expertly researched book, Heather McGee breaks down the ways in which greed has shaped the various institutions that make up American life. From industry and the economy to education, healthcare and housing, McGee demonstrates how a “zero-sum” mentality has shaped policy and contorted America’s founding promise of “liberty and justice for all,” into “liberty and justice for few.”
Despite our country’s boastful commitment to democracy (which is glorified as the most equal form of government), American democracy and capitalism have time and again prioritized the preservation of wealth for the top 1% over basic necessities for the masses. Not to mention, of all democracies in the world, the United States has far and away the most restrictive policies concerning citizens’ right (and ability) to vote.
While voting restrictions negatively impact all Americans, the racist root of these policies is undeniable. Here are just a few pieces of supporting evidence:
—All fifty states have varying policies when it comes to when/how you can register to vote
—Two of the states known for making it easiest for citizens’ to exercise their right to vote are Oregon and North Dakota (two of the whitest states in America). Meanwhile, the state with the highest percentage of Black citizens - Mississippi - ranks dead last when it comes to ease of voting.
—In Texas, gun permits count as an accepted form of voter identification (80% of gun owners in Texas are white) while college IDs do not (in Texas, 50% of college students are people of color).
While the very idea of the American Dream is rooted in meritocracy and based on the assumption that anyone who works hard enough can achieve financial and social success, this ideal fails to take into account our country’s racist past as well as the discriminatory policies that have resulted in a lack of generational wealth among non-white Americans.
Going back to the origins of our nation, the New World was both built and won by slave labor. Perhaps this is common knowledge among Americans (or at least one would hope). However, did you know that the colonies would not have had a chance at funding and winning their War of Independence without the assistance of the French? The French aided the American war for independence in exchange for tobacco… which was grown by enslaved Americans.
Furthermore, once enslaved Americans won their freedom and joined the (paid) workforce, they were forced to accept lower wages than white laborer. So, for those who prioritized cheap labor over skin color, factories and other labor-intensive industries began hiring Black workers as a means to pay their workers less money and add to their bottom line.
Not only were Black and other nonwhite workers forced to accept lower wages (and often worse working conditions), but they were also deemed ineligible for many government assistance programs aimed at helping Americans build wealth. For instance, redlining was a practice in which the government outlined “high risk” neighborhoods and then used such identifiers to refuse loans to applicants residing in those areas (these “high risk” areas were almost entirely occupied by Black and other non-white individuals).
It wasn’t until The Fair Housing Act in 1968 that these racist policies were officially banned. However, the law wasn’t enforced and banks continued to deny loans to people of color for another 2+ decades. Finally in the 1990s, the Federal Reserve stepped in and began to (sometimes) enforce the law.
A huge part of white Americans’ ability to build generational wealth has been due to their access to homeownership. Whereas many nonwhite individuals were subjected to racist policies restricting them from home loans or even (going further back in time) the legal right to own property. As of 2016, the average white American household had approximately $171,000 in wealth. For Black families that number $17,600 and for Latinx families it was $20,700.
While discriminatory policies inspired by greed have served their intended purpose of disadvantaging people of color, the white middle class has also suffered.
Twenty one states have a minimum wage of $7.25 (the lowest federally legal wage per hour). While many of these states are home to some of the largest Black and Latinx populations in the country, white workers in these states are subject to the same minimum wages. Thus, it would make sense for workers to band together (regardless of race) to demand more adequate wages. One would also assume that said white workers would vote in favor of policies that would personally benefit them and their fellow middle-class workers. However, due to the deeply ingrained belief in the zero-sum story sold by the wealthy, American are plagued by a fear of loss at another’s gain. Therefore many low income - and even middle class - white Americans vote for political candidates who favor conservative fiscal policies (like maintaining the current minimum wage) - despite the fact that they’re likely among the 60% of Americans that don’t make enough money to reliably meet their basic needs. All this to say, many Americans vote against their own interests rather than risk supporting policies that might elevate those of “lower status” to an equal playing field.
As McGhee makes clear in her book, candidates who use divisive rhetoric and fear-based tactics to attract votes, strategically do so as a means to make the richer richer (or at least maintain their wealth) and keep the poor and middle class from demanding their fair share.
Meanwhile the pay for hourly workers has seen a measly 0.3% annual increase since 1979, while salaries for those in the top 1% have increased by 190%.
Quickly moving to crime and the well-acknowledged race problem plaguing our justice system and mass incarceration complex, these stats really say it all…
—69% of those arrested for criminal activity in the US are white. However, 72% of televised crime coverage features people of color.
—Black Americans are 3x more likely to be killed by police (followed closely by Indigenous Americans).
—While an equal number of Black and White Americans use drugs, Black Americans are six times more likely to face incarceration for drug crimes.
—Additionally, the legal punishment for possession of crack cocaine (which is more prominent among Black Americans) is 18x harsher than that of powder cocaine (which is more prevalent among White Americans).
In order to move towards a TRULY equal society, we must stop believing rhetoric that blames groups who are different from us (racially, economically or culturally) for the problems we face as a society. Despite what politicians and the top 1% may suggest, it’s not a zero-sum game. Uplifting a historically marginalized group doesn’t diminish the value or achievements of those outside of that group. Rather, it simply levels the playing field so WE CAN ALL RISE TOGETHER.
Ultimately, we can’t do better until we know better. This starts with acknowledging the wrongdoings of our country’s past and working together to build a more equitable future for ALL Americans.
