The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

From the very inception of what would become the United States, a story was woven—a story that set some people above others based on the color of their skin. This was not a natural order but a deliberate invention, a constructed racial hierarchy designed to justify unimaginable exploitation. Imagine a world where human beings were categorized and ranked, not by their character or contributions, but by arbitrary markers like skin color and origin. This system gave moral license to the theft of land from Indigenous peoples and the enslavement of Africans, turning human lives into commodities and capital.

Slavery was not merely forced labor; it was an economic innovation that transformed human beings into appreciating assets. Owners counted on their enslaved workers to generate silent profits year after year, even insuring their lives like property. The grim reality was that the less a slaveholder spent on the well-being of enslaved people, the greater their profit margin. This brutal calculus reduced lives to numbers and economic value, a chilling example of how deeply intertwined racism and capitalism were from the beginning.

For poor white colonists, this racial order offered a psychological reprieve. In a world where most Europeans had been servants or oppressed in Europe, the racial hierarchy elevated whites above all others, granting them a sense of freedom and belonging denied to Black and Indigenous peoples. This early form of racial uplift was so powerful that it shaped the very idea of citizenship and freedom in the new nation. Whiteness became synonymous with liberty, while Blackness was equated with bondage and unfreedom.

The laws of the time codified these distinctions, embedding racial hierarchy into the fabric of society. Even after slavery was abolished in the North, the economic and social benefits accrued by whiteness persisted, creating a zero-sum dynamic where the gains of people of color were perceived as losses for whites. This zero-sum story has haunted America ever since, shaping attitudes, policies, and power structures.

As we begin this journey, it is crucial to understand that this story is not immutable. It was created by people with specific interests and can be dismantled by a collective will that recognizes our shared humanity. The next section will explore how this racial hierarchy drained public goods and fractured the social fabric, leading to losses felt by all Americans.