eve_prime | Book completed

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, by Heather McGhee. We're reading this for our neighborhood book club. I was expecting McGhee to make the case that if only resistant white people would think about the economy rationally, and make decisions based on that, then we'd all be better off. Doesn't it seem that that's what the title is implying? And then when I saw that she's a professional policy analyst, I was even more convinced that that's what I would be reading.

However, this book is so much more. Yes, it's very educational - I learned shocking things about how the sub-prime mortgage crisis began with Wells Fargo and others targeting and harassing not first-time home buyers getting in over their heads, but Black homeowners who they convinced to refinance at bad rates, with bad terms, even when they qualified for reasonable rates and reasonable terms. I also learned that in Texas and Alabama, you can't get Medicaid unless your household income is below $4000!

But beyond all that, McGhee makes a strong case that the foundations for racist irrationality among white populists is a long-standing narrative about zero-sum conditions. If you believe it's "us" or "them," naturally you'd favor "us." She builds the case for creating a new narrative that transcends such zero-sum thinking.

And naturally since she's building her case using my area of expertise - and using it well - I really liked it!