This week on All Ears Abby talks to author and commentator Heather McGhee. Heather is a distinguished senior fellow at the progressive think tank Demos, where she also served as president for four years. Heather argues that the economic, intellectual, and societal costs of racism affect not only its victims but also its perpetrators. She tells Abby that America’s White middle class grew after WW2, with help from Federal housing subsidies, education grants and other benefits that were largely denied to Black Americans. Once Black Americans began demanding equal treatment, many of those programs were simply dismantled. This kind of racism, McGee tells Abby, cost everyone. Abby and Heather also delve into the political theft of Reconstruction, whether American racism is unique, the misogyny of libertarianism, and if the Karen memes are a harbinger of a backlash on feminism. Heather’s heavily anticipated book, The Sum of Us, is due out in early 2021.
Special Guest
Heather McGhee
New York Times bestselling author and policy advocate
Heather designs and promotes solutions to inequality in America. For nearly two decades, she helped build the progressive think tank Demos, including four years as its president. Her upcoming book, The Sum of Us, is available for pre-order now from One World, an imprint of Random House. She will anchor two original podcasts later in 2020. She is the chair of the board of Color of Change, the country’s largest online racial justice organization, and volunteers for numerous other boards in philanthropy and social justice. She lives in Brooklyn with her urbanist husband, an eighteen year-old cat and a chatty toddler.