Best-Selling Author to Discuss How Psychiatrists Can Help Create More Equitable World

Heather McGhee, the author of the 2021 best-seller The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, began her journey to understand inequality in the United States with a question that may have at least once crossed your mind: Why can’t we have nice things?

“In the birthplace of the American dream, we have one of the most unequal economies—with housing, health care, college, retirement increasingly out of reach for most people,” explained McGhee, an expert in economic and social policy, in the first episode of The Sum of Us podcast, which explores themes addressed in the book.

McGhee will deliver a keynote plenary address at APA’s 2023 Annual Meeting, where she will talk about how psychiatrists can be leaders in helping to create a more equitable world. After her talk, she will join a panel with the presidents of the AMA and the American Bar Association to discuss the role and responsibility of the professions of medicine and law in advocacy and action to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in America.

McGhee spent nearly two decades at Demos, a research and advocacy organization working on public policy solutions to inequality, working her way from an entry-level position to the president of the organization. While with Demos, she drafted legislation, testified before Congress, and contributed regularly to news shows. But the question of why Americans, all Americans, can’t have nice things gnawed at her. And in June 2018, she stepped down as president of Demos to travel across the country to try to understand what it is that every day Americans believe about each other.

“Ultimately, I learned that the reason we don’t have nice things is because of this zero-sum mentality we have about race in America: The idea that if people of color gain something, then white people have to lose something,” she said. “This kind of thinking has led this country to drain the pools … of resources for all of us.”

“I know racism always hits its intended target—people of color—first and worst. … But I don’t think we’ve really come to understand how much racism costs everyone,” she continued. “This country’s economic dysfunction, the poverty wages, the collapsing bridges, health care that’s out of reach, [and] underfunded schools come from our inability to share the pool—to really see ourselves as one people worthy of investment.”

The Sum of Us traces the history of how Americans arrived at this place of great division and disparity; examines who benefits from sowing the seeds of the zero-sum narrative; and tells the story of everyday Americans who refuse to buy it and instead are coming together to demand more from their government, their jobs, and each other.

“It may not look like it and you may not be hearing about it, but there’s a groundswell happening all over this country, often under the radar of the big national news: [O]rdinary people in overlooked parts of America are owning up to what racism has cost us,” McGhee said. “Even though we’re in an era of intense division, I’ve learned that when we truly see each other, have honest conversations and do the tough and sometimes messy work of crossing boundaries to build solidarity, then we can win solutions to the problems that are keeping most of us up at night.”

The Sum of Us podcast launched in July 2022. With McGhee as the host, listeners join alongside her road trip across the United States, where she revisits some of the stories of solidarity and hope that were introduced in her best seller—stories of everyday people overcoming their differences to win the fights that unite them: the right to clean water, living wages, reproductive rights—and more. Listeners can explore ways to get involved and take action through an episode-by-episode companion guide.

McGhee has also adapted The Sum of Us for youth. On February 21, The Sum of Us (Adapted for Young Readers): How Racism Hurts Everyone, will be released.

McGhee has a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. She is a distinguished lecturer of Urban Studies at the City University of New York’s School of Labor and Urban Studies. She is also the chair of the board of Color of Change and also serves as the trustee emeritus at Demos and a board member of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Open Society Foundations’ US Programs. Her writings have appeared in such outlets as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, and National Public Radio. ■

The Emerging Voices: DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging), Innovation, and Leadership plenary will take place on Monday, May 22, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. After the plenary, McGhee will be available for a book signing at the APA Bookstore in the Exhibit Hall from 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m.