June 2022 - The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
I decided to give a shout-out to Juneteenth, our new Federal Holiday celebrating the end of slavery by reviewing Heather McGhee's thought-provoking and award-winning book The Sum of Us.
I usually choose to entertain and educate myself by reading fiction. I use novels to shed light on how another person lives, or dies, or kills off their neighbors. And it can be hard for me to stay interested in a book of Non-fiction. Sometimes they are dry, and there are rarely any cliffhangers. But The Sum of Us kept me turning the pages. The other advantage to reviewing non-fiction is that I don't have to worry about spoilers.
The Sum of Us burst my white bubble of privilege, but with an eye-opening, heart-opening vision for the future. Heather McGhee suggests that the shame and guilt of racism would be better replaced with knowledge and commitment to do better.
There is plenty of history to explore here, but McGhee delivers it with context and consequences. She makes connections between what happened in the past to how it has manifested itself in the present day. And she dares to believe that there is another way.
Much of our inability to address poverty, hunger, and education is rooted in our nation's racist history. Taxes were at a peak as a percentage of the economy in 1965. Standards of living were on the rise, and homeownership was a priority. However, the narrative changed when women and people of color forced the government to include them in the equation. Antigovernment conservatism took hold, and politicians began to demonize big government.
The Sum of Us offers multiple examples of how programs to help people help themselves were dismantled. In 1976 state governments provided sixty percent of the cost of enrollment per student on average. Colleges in California and New York were tuition-free. But forty years later, the primary income is from tuition, and there is a crushing student debt crisis. McGhee calls this the "stealth privatization of America's public colleges."
Time and again, The Sum of Us shines a light on how the shift in focus has robbed us of benefits that previous generations took for granted. Our racist history has corrupted the American dream and our vision for freedom and equal opportunity. The book makes a compelling argument that pulling out this historical government support has reduced the middle class, has widened the gap between the haves and the have-nots, and has weakened us as a country.
For all the challenges this book reveals, it also gives us hope. Its underlying message calls for unity. The challenges that face us face all of us. We can choose to make our lives better and reinstate some of the initiatives and policies that made America the land of opportunity. And this time, we can provide those opportunities for all of us.
Celebrate Juneteenth with a copy of Heather McGhee's The Sum of Us. She has excellent ideas for making America great again with a more inclusive perspective.
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