GAPP and ACRU Summer Book Discussion

Join in a discussion of Heather McGhee's award-winning book "The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together"
About this Event

(This program will be offered both in-person and via Zoom. The link will be sent to registrants 2 days before the event.)

What happened to the public pools that were community showplaces in the early 20th century? Many white communities chose to drain and close them instead of allowing Black people to swim, too.

Author Heather McGhee argues that this is just one of the many ways the whole nation loses out when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm—the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others.

It The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We can Prosper Together, McGhee travels the country exploring ways in which this zero-sum game of racism hurts white people as well as black people.

But in unlikely places of worship and work, McGhee finds proof of what she calls the Solidarity Dividend: the benefits we gain when people come together across race to accomplish what we simply can’t do on our own. Her book leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than a zero-sum game.

Materials available:

• The book is available at the Cincinnati Library or for purchase, and as an ebook or an audiobook.
• McGhee has created a YA book, a shorter version by the same title.
• McGhee has a "The Sum of Us" podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sum-of-us/id1640137860
• McGhee has a TED talk and several interviews available on the internet.