Dr. Allen Baros, (allen.baros@skagit.edu)
English Department Faculty
Libby Sullivan,(libby.sullivan@skagit.edu)
Library Faculty
Feel free to contact us with questions or concerns
Select This Link to Join
The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee's specialty is the American economy--and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out? McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Maine to Mississippi to California, tallying what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm--the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. Along the way, she meets white people who confide in her about losing their homes, their dreams, and their shot at better jobs to the toxic mix of American racism and greed. This is the story of how public goods in this country--from parks and pools to functioning schools--have become private luxuries; of how unions collapsed, wages stagnated, and inequality increased; and of how this country, unique among the world's advanced economies, has thwarted universal healthcare. 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. The Sum of Us is not only a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here but also a heartfelt message, delivered with startling empathy, from a black woman to a multiracial America. It leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than a zero-sum game.Check a Local Library:
This group is invested in reading books that offer a deeper exploration of racism, its structural roots, and its relationship to U.S. culture, politics, economics, and material conditions.
Members will take part in conversations about the books we read and discuss changes we could make in our daily lives, and in our programs and classes that would continue the work of antiracism on campus.
Our aim is to create an intentional, respectful space where we can come together to discuss these complicated topics.
Please join us!
Next meeting time:
Winter Quarter: School year 21-22
Thursday 1/27/22
4:30-5:30pm
READ: Chapters 7 & 8 in The Sum of Us, by Heather McGhee
Zoom Link: contact libby.sullivan@skagit.edu or allen.baros@skagit.edu
National Antiracist Book Festival
A Virtual Event on April 30, 2022. Hosted by the BU Center for Antiracist Research
