It's Wednesday 4:18 AM — The Library is currently closed
What if we’ve been looking at opportunity in America all wrong? What if individual groups stopped trying to get a larger slice of the pie and worked together to create a bigger, better pie?
This summer, read Heather McGhee‘s book, “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together” and join hands across barriers to effect meaningful change. Participate in discussion groups throughout town in preparation for McGhee’s author visit on October 13.
Thanks to the generosity of Partners for Health Foundation, we’ll be giving away free books while supplies last. Book clubs must place their orders by the end of May. For more information, contact MPL librarian Ariel Zeitlin.
“Illuminating and hopeful…[McGhee] appeals to concrete self-interest in order to show how our fortunes are tied up with the fortunes of others….She is compassionate but also clear-eyed, refusing to downplay the horrors of racism…There is a striking clarity to this book; there is also a depth of kindness in it that all but the most churlish readers will find moving.”—The New York Times
Registration is required and free for all events below. All are welcome, including those from outside Montclair. Click on the blue links to register.
Open Book / Open Mind: Heather McGhee in conversation with Michelle Alexander
Wednesday, October 13, 7 p.m.
First Congregational Church (40 S. Fullerton Ave., Montclair)
Economist and public policy expert Heather McGhee will discuss her award-winning social justice bestseller, “The Sum of Us,” with the legendary legal scholar and writer, Michelle Alexander (“The New Jim Crow”). Followed by Q&A and a book signing and sale with Watchung Booksellers. The first 50 guests to enter the church will receive free copies of the book (if they didn’t receive them in the community read). Co-presented by The Montclair Local and Dumpling Diplomacy.
Good Fortune Cookies: Talk, Make, Taste and Give Away!
Saturday, September 19, 3 p.m. Cafe.
An Adult School class open to families. Led by Nancy Loo of Dumpling Diplomacy. Write out your own good fortunes, learn to wrap them in fortune cookies, bake them, and give them away to friends, family members and strangers to build what McGhee calls “the Dividend of Solidarity”! Registration will open soon. Space is limited.
Everything Book Club: “The Sum of Us”
Tuesday, August 11, 1:15 p.m. Main – Tower Room
Wednesday, August 13, 1:15 p.m. Main – Tower Room
Led by librarian Ariel Zeitlin. Let’s talk about this important book and get ready for the live author conversation! Registration is limited. Receive a free copy of the book while supplies last.
A Deep Dive into the Desegregation of Montclair’s Pools: A Panel Discussion
Thursday, July 16, 2 p.m. Main – Auditorium
Join Lonnie Brandon, former longtime director of Montclair Parks and Recreation Department, Angelica Diggs, director of The Montclair History Center, Roger Terry, former deputy mayor and deputy police chief of Montclair, and local author and journalist Dionne Ford to explore the story of the township’s three public pools: why they were built, how they became available to residents of all races–and how they fit into the history of civil rights and desegregation as a whole. A free Adult School/Adult Services local history discussion. Co-presented by The Montclair History Center.
If you’re sick of the antagonism and zero-sum-game thinking so prevalent in American public life today, you’ll find a refreshing antidote in this still timely landmark bestseller from 2022.
“Why can’t we have nice things?” Heather McGhee asks in the beginning of “The Sum of Us.” She takes an epic journey across the United States, concluding that public goods in this country—from parks and pools to functioning schools—have become private luxuries; that unions have collapsed, wages stagnated, and inequality increased; and that this country, unique among the world’s advanced economies, has severely limited healthcare…damaging whites along with everyone else.
As McGhee travels across the nation, she also describes finding what she calls the Solidarity Dividend: what we gain when people come together across race to accomplish what we simply can’t do on our own.
A “Young Readers” edition of “The Sum of Us” is also available.
Heath
er McGhee is an expert in economic and social policy. The former president of the inequality-focused think tank Demos, McGhee now chairs the board of Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. She serves as a contributor to NBC News and frequently appears on shows such Meet the Press. Learn More.
Michelle Alexander is a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, advocate, legal scholar and author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” the bestselling book that helped to transform the national debate on racial and criminal justice in the United States.
