2021 Book Circles:
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone And How We Can Prosper Together
By Heather McGhee
This fall, the DCF is proud to be hosting Heather McGhee as our Building Opportunity Featured Speaker, in partnership with Barclays US Consumer Bank. Before you see her speak in October, read her book, The Sum of Us.
To inspire conversation about equity and community, we are giving away 500 FREE copies of the book!
(Free books available while supplies last!)
Join us in exploring how we can prosper together by:
- Hosting a Book Circle
- Recruit four or five friends to read the book.
- Get together as a group and talk about the reading.
- The DCF will send you a free book for each participant and discussion guides.
- Participating in a virtual Community Book Circle – Registration Coming Soon!
- Register for one of the dates below
- The DCF will send you the book to read, as well as Zoom details
- Discussion Dates:
- September 9, 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. (Hosted by Kelly Firment and Sarah Grunewald)
- September 22, 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Hosted by Lossie Freeman and Stuart Comstock-Gay)
- October 2, 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. (Hosted by Chanta Howard-Wilkinson and Yolanda Rushdan)
If you’d like to borrow a copy of the book from your local library, you are able to check availability here.
Interested in taking a deeper dive into the book? Join a YWCA Book Study Group, led by a YWCA facilitator, which meet over three weekly sessions, beginning the week of August 15th. Learn more.
About The Book
Despite its position as one of the world’s most advanced economies, America has, time and time again, created policies that routinely fail its people — from the 2008 financial crisis, to crippling student debt, to the continued lack of universal healthcare. But there exists a common thread that links all of these problems, says public policy expert Heather McGhee: Racism. Structural racism is the driver of inequality — not just for people of color, but for everyone.
In her new book The Sum Of Us, McGhee takes readers on a journey across the country, where she explores, with compassion, intelligence, and great care, 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. “Now more than ever, racial division is a tool wielded by those who are the most wealthy, the most powerful, and the most self-interested,” explains McGhee. What would actually improve our lives, and everything we share in common—from our infrastructure to our education system to democracy itself—would be to come together across racial divides.
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