Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

What does racism cost us? Tying together economics and deeply personal stories from across the United States that convey the cost of a broken system, political strategist Heather McGhee roots out the racist policies and politics that she says plague the finances and lives of Americans. In her debut book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, she makes her case: racism and a flawed zero-sum structure are at the root of all our dysfunctions. Traversing across the country, McGhee shares both the big picture and individual tales of the cost of playing the zero-sum game. McGhee brings people of all races and creeds to share their accounts of lost homes and lost dreams, owing to the mentality that some must lose for others to win. Indeed, in a system where education is a private commodity and incomes for many Americans have remained stagnant, she says winning is not an option. Yet, there is reason for hope. In combat against this system, McGhee has seen sparks of a “Solidarity Di