The Sum Of Us

The Sum Of Us

Adult nonfiction
"...The 'we' who can't seem to have nice things is Americans,
all Americans. This includes the white Americans who are the largest
group of the uninsured and the impoverished as well as the Americans
of color who are disproportionately so. 'We' is all of us who have
watched generations of American leadership struggle to solve big
problems and reliably improve the quality of life for most people. We
know what we need--why can't we have it?"
This Fourth of July weekend I decided to do something
patriotic. Of course my definition of patriotic differs from those of
the festivity planners (not to mention the radio djs who played every
patriotic CW song ever recorded). Instead of praising the nation's
past I chose to look ahead to what can be. So on a day at camp,
indoors with a fire in the wood stove (less than a week after a
blistering heat wave) I read Heather McGhee's The Sum Of Us: What
Racism Costs Everyone And How We Can Prosper Together.
"Why can't we have nice things?" is a question McGhee asked
growing up in an increasingly unequal nation. It's a question that
drove her vocational trajectory. And it's a question she thoroughly
addresses in her powerful and insightful book. She begins with
clarifying two key concepts.
The first is the zero-sum game. It explains why so many people
seem to vote against their own interests. Many white people see race
as a zero-sum game. Cutting the pie to give "them" a bigger piece
means "our" share is smaller. The concept also extends to nonmaterial
realms. So anything that increases the wealth, agency, or power of
Blacks is seen to diminish White holdings to the extent that many
whites now believe that we are the oppressed race.
The other is dog whistle politics. In the past racist language
was tolerated. As it became less acceptable racist politicians had to
find a way to catch the attention of the faithful without incurring
the indignation of liberals. So concepts such as inner city, welfare,
and cultural of poverty were racialized.
"...The welfare trope also did the powerful blame-shifting work
of projection: like telling white aristocrats that it was their slaves
who were the lazy ones, the Black welfare stereotype was a total
inversion of the way the U.S. government had actually given "free
stuff" to one race over all others. To this day, even though Black
and brown people are disproportionately poor, white Americans
constitute the majority of low-income people who escape poverty
because of government safety-net programs. Nonetheless, the idea that
Black people are the 'takers' in society while white people are the
hardworking taxpayers--the 'makers'--has become a core part of the
zero-sum story preached by wealthy political elites..."
McGhee starts off with an example that's quite relevant less
than a week after a sweltering heat wave: the public pool. In the
past there were thousands of well maintained whites only municipal
pools. Then Black taxpayers started demanding access. Rather than
allow Black bodies to share the water many towns and cities drained
and filled in the pools. Blacks couldn't enjoy a refreshing swim; but
neither could the many whites who couldn't afford to join a private
club or have a backyard pool put in. Much of the rest of the text
describes a wide range of zero-sum game consequences, many of which
are draconian and deadly as in refusal to expand Medicaid.
Fortunately McGhee ends the book on a note of hope. Her last
chapter, the solidarity dividend, describes a life giving alternative
to the zero-sum game.
"But everything depends on the answer to this question. Who is
an American, and what are we to one another? Politics offers two
versions of why all the peoples of the world have met here: one in
which we are nothing more than competitors and another in which
perhaps the proximity of so much difference forces us to admit our
common humanity."
Imagine that!
If you've found yourself wondering, especially during the Trump
presidency, why we can't have nice things, you'll find The Sum Of Us
to be a must read. It's a must acquire for public libraries.
On a purrrsonal note, despite the radio play list it was a mostly good
weekend. Camp was good. Rain Sunday turned the family cook out into
a cook in. None of the kids could make it. :P But the food was
delish. And I snagged enough leftovers for supper. And the fireworks
were awesome--nearly an hour of pyrotecnic magic! I do so love
fireworks! The crappy part was the push there always seems to be this
time of the year for everyone to assert a belief in America's "great"
history. People remind me about the forefathers proclaiming the
equality of all men. Which in itself is problematic for 50% of us.
And after the ink dried on the document they went back to enslaving
Blacks and going genocidal on indigenous peoples. A little hypocricy
here? How about that eugenic phase where Buck v Bell, that Supreme
Court decision legalizing the sterilization without consent of
"undesirables", inspired Hitler? Or how following WWII the benefits
that enabled the growth of a large middle class were just about whites
only? I'm supposed to feel proud of this? Really? (Jules)
My hoomans got back safe. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to the people who are bringing Poor
People's Campaign back to help transform America into a nation where
we all can have good things.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


Sent from my iPod