By Ed Meek

The Sum of Us shows how the economic and political powers-that-be have exploited race to split Americans into warring tribes trapped in a zero-sum game fighting for what’s left after the top 1% take 40% of the wealth.

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee. Penguin, 395 pages. $20.90.

Heather McGhee makes the argument that racism has hurt all of us and continues to harm the country as a whole. In doing so, she updates and expands on positions taken by Martin Luther King among others — that the way the wealthy and powerful maintain their status is by dividing the poor, the working class, and the middle class into camps at war with each other, often on the basis of race. McGhee claims racism is a weapon the Republican party has used to divide us, lower taxes on the rich, and transfer wealth upward.

McGhee has done an enormous amount of research to prove her thesis. In particular, she traces the closing of public swimming pools in the US once Blacks were allowed. She travels to sites and speaks with people who were there when it happened. This movement serves as an emblem of the loss of support for community programs during the years following the ’60s, when Civil Rights legislation was passed by Lyndon Johnson. Robert Putnam covers some of the same territory in his best-seller Bowling Alone.

Nonetheless, reading The Sum of Us can be frustrating because McGhee often reduces complex social/economic problems to the issue of race. According to McGhee, whites support Republicans solely because of racism. This belief, like the argument that Trump was elected because of racism, is only partly true. Were Blacks who voted for Trump racist? Trump attacked Hispanics and Muslims as well as Blacks. Republicans promote a (selective) libertarianism and equate that belief in freedom and small government with what it means to be “real” Americans. This rhetoric has been so effective during the pandemic that millions of Americans reject vaccines and masks because they see them as assaults on their control over their bodies. This sheep-like behavior is also compelled by ideological purity: Republicans would rather risk sickness and death for themselves and the rest of us than go along with what the majority of Democrats recommend.

Do whites who consider themselves victims — those who think that Blacks getting Food Stamps (SNAP) are “takers and moochers,” as Mitt Romney once so delicately put it — think that way because they are racist? Or is it because they are ignorant of the value of the social safety net? Or because they are libertarians who don’t believe in government “handouts”? The Republican Party seems to operate in large part by playing on the fears of the uninformed and xenophobic. Of course, some of those elected to office (Marjorie Taylor Greene, for example) seem to know as little as their constituents. On the other hand, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Mitch McConnell, and Ron DeSantis know better, but will apparently do whatever it takes to maintain power by generating an “us versus them” mentality.

In The Sum of Us, all these issues are viewed through the prism of race. McGhee writes that “when college meant ‘white’ public colleges thrived.” Government invested in college, covering much of the cost. When Blacks began attending public universities and community colleges, McGhee points out, state and federal resources dried up. Yet, contrary to what she claims, it wasn’t just racism that was responsible for that loss of support. In the ’90s studies began coming out with evidence that college grads earned much more than high school grads. Why should we fund college if those who go will make a lot more money than those who don’t? Congress asked. Instead of funding institutions, the government began to provide low-interest loans to students.

As a result, colleges raised tuition to cover costs. In addition, public colleges began competing for students by building beautiful gyms and stadiums and cafeterias. New technology added more costs. Colleges with strong sports programs drew alumni/ae who contributed to endowments. So colleges recruited athletes and accomplished students who would bring in more investment from the rich. At the same time, lawsuits and a growing awareness of the challenges represented by mental health and disabilities prompted colleges to provide increasingly sophisticated support services. Finally, some have pointed out that allowing students access to open-ended loans gave colleges the opportunity to raise prices and never stop. All of these factors (and no doubt others) drove up the cost of college. Oh wait, did I forget about paying stars like Elizabeth Warren 400K to teach a class?

The college “arms” race ties into some of the advantages and drawbacks of our meritocracy. Once professional and upper-middle-class parents saw the financial benefits of a college education, particularly a degree from a select institution, they began investing in their children’s future by sending them to private and public schools in tony suburbs that were financed by property taxes. Private SAT tutors helped win admission and scholarships to the best colleges.

In the book, McGhee also examines housing, the economy, our unrepresentative democracy, climate change, and community. In each of these cases she has done laudatory research, combining revelatory facts and heartbreaking stories of how racism hurts minorities primarily, but also working class and poor whites. In each case she emphasizes the role of racism — often ignoring other factors. Nonetheless, she makes a strong case for the outsize role racism plays in each of these areas, especially when it comes to voting rights — a compelling issue given the current attempts by Republicans to disenfranchise Black voters.

Despite my criticism, The Sum of Us is one of a number of must-read recent books about race in America that include The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. McGhee’s take is distinctive because she is an activist and scholar with a law degree. The Sum of Us shows how the economic and political powers-that-be have exploited race to split Americans into warring tribes trapped in a zero-sum game fighting for what’s left after the top 1% take 40% of the wealth. All of that money means that an elite group has the swag to fund (and influence) politicians as well as to employ an “independent” media to sway the public in the desired divisive directions. Fortunately for us, there are writers like McGhee who can describe the cliff the country is being driven over — and suggest how we might turn things around.

Ed Meek is the author of High Tide (poems) and Luck (short stories).