Join us for a candid conversation between Heather McGhee, author of The Sum of Us and Tom Perriello, Executive Director of the Open Society Foundations, moderated by Dr. Carmen Rojas, President and CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation. McGhee’s recently released book, The Sum of Us, provides a critical analysis of zero-sum policymaking which creates the false choice between some of us being ok and all of us being better off. Together they will explore the destructive dealings of white-supremacist policymaking and the role progressive philanthropy can play in disrupting these practices in service of the sum of us.
This event is part of our MCF Book Club: Reading for a Liberated Future series. The MCF Book Club shares the ideas of leaders who encourage us to imagine how we can radically transform our democracy, economy, and society.
Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out?
Heather McGhee is an expert in economic and social policy. The former president of the think tank Demos, McGhee has drafted legislation, testified before Congress and contributed regularly to news shows including NBC’s Meet the Press. She now chairs the board of Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. McGhee holds a B.A. in American studies from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.
Tom Perriello is executive director of Open Society-U.S., which supports efforts to advance equality, fairness and justice with a focus on marginalized communities in the United States. Perriello has dedicated his career to organizations and campaigns fighting injustice, climate change, economic inequality and crimes against humanity. He also served as a member of Congress (VA-05) and advanced robust policies during his campaign for addressing the racial wealth gap, reproductive health, resurgent monopolies and corruption. Perriello is a graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School.
