A review by madeyejudi
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee

5.0

I have been recommending this book to everyone I know. I think a lot of people in my circle have been engaging with various texts and wrestling with the hard truths of our internalized racism. Many of those discuss the history and continued effects of racism and how that affects BIPOC, but this book really drives home how racism harms everyone. While I would like to think that we can make changes just on the overt wrongness of racism, I know that a large section of the world needs to know why they should care - how it affects them. There are so many direct and indirect consequences, from the targeted nature of the subprime lending collapse, to the fight to weaken unions and pit people against each other, to the fight for a living minimum wage. The fight should not be within the ranks of the same economic class, but this book shows how race has been a key factor in the fight to keep the working classes down.