A White author calculated just how much racism has benefited her. Here’s what she found
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Journalist Tracie McMillan traces just how much of her family’s modest wealth can be attributed to race in “The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America.”
Exactly how much has racism benefited White Americans? Journalist and author Tracie McMillan did the math: The advantages she’s gotten over her life from being White, she estimates, amount to $371,934.30. To calculate that number, McMillan tallied those benefits and divided them into two categories: A family bonus, which includes money her parents spent on her college tuition, educational loans she got from her grandfather and an inheritance; and a social bonus, which includes jobs, apartments and access to credit she’s gotten throughout her life. Those resources and capital, she concludes, wouldn’t have been available to her if it weren’t for her race. In her new book, “The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America,” which publishes Tuesday, McMillan traces just how much of her family’s modest wealth can be attributed to policies and practices that have systematically hurt Black Americans. Through investigative research, interviews and personal recollections, McMillan examines how racism has shaped her life, as well as the lives of four other White, middle class families.
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