“Why can’t we have nice things?” asks Heather McGhee at the beginning of “The Sum of Us,” the book at the center of the recent panel discussion, hosted by the Community Remembrance Coalition-Chatham (CRC-C). The consensus of participants in the discussion was an affirmative answer. Yes, we, as a people and a country, can have nice things if we come together across race, culture and class.
The wealthy and the powerful use race to divide us in a so-called “zero sum game.” The idea that if “they” get something “we” lose divides us and prevents us from solving problems together. But racism doesn’t just hurt people of color, it costs white people, too. Coming together in solidarity to seek solutions will enable us all to have quality health care, excellent schools, a sustainable environment and many other “dividends” on our investment in multiracial coalitions.
McGhee traveled across the U.S. in search of answers to our most vexing problems of vast inequality, schools that are not meeting children’s needs, crumbling infrastructure, and planetary destruction. In her book, “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together,” she gives detailed examples of the price we all pay for racism when we let powerful interests divide us. For example, McGhee discovered that prior to World War II, the U.S. had built 2,000 beautiful, public swimming pools across the nation. Some of these were resort-style pools that were so big they could hold thousands of swimmers at a time. But racism drained the pools. In the 1950s, communities closed pools rather than welcome everyone to swim together.
McGhee also describes successful examples or how people have come together across race and class to solve problems and create new opportunities that benefit everyone. The city of Lewiston, Maine, was losing population and unable to attract new employers. But Lewiston welcomed refugees who moved into empty apartment buildings, created businesses and filled service jobs. Now these “new Mainers” are adding to the tax base, enticing investment and increasing real estate values for everyone.
We, in Chatham County, are rich with people and organizations that are working together across race and class to build relations, identify problems, find opportunities for collaboration and solve problems. The CRC-C panel discussion brought together people from the Chatham County school system, the business community, CORE (Chatham Organizing for Racial Equity), NAACP and more. All across our county, people of all races and income levels are collaborating — working together to build a more prosperous future for us all.
We invite you to learn more about creating opportunities for Chatham County to prosper together by joining one of the organizations mentioned above, reading “The Sum of Us: How We Can Prosper Together,” or by watching the recording of the book discussion at www.crc-c.org.
Mary Harris of Siler City and Vickie Atkinson of Chapel Hill are part of the leadership of the Community Remembrance Coalition-Chatham.