Author Heather McGhee was taking calls on C-SPAN about her book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together.
A Republican voter from Kansas named Gordan called in and asked her some shocking questions, but McGhee took it calmly and threw it right back at him.
Gordan started:
"I'm so the opposite of you."
"And I wonder if you get up in the morning and you have to fight that White blood off because it's trying to make you a racist?"
"Do you have to fight that White blood off?"
"And all of this stuff that you're talking about was addressed in the '60s."
"Low-income housing was built."
"You guys got child care, everything."
"You've always got your hand out and I just think it's pitiful that you think you write a book and you know everything about every White person alive."
A slight smile went across McGhee's face as she listened to the man go on.
She took a moment to collect her thoughts and began:
"I definitely don't claim to know everything about every White person alive."
"My book depends on a lot of research and survey data."
The book takes representative data from White, Black and other non-White Americans on their opinions of laws and policies. It even looks at whether they believe Black people just want a "hand out" or not, like Gordan claimed.
McGhee continued:
"Ya know, it's not 'everybody,' but it is between 50-60%, the majority of White conservatives and moderates believe that Black people take more from society than we give."
"There's just a little bit of that view in your own question."
She pointed it back at Gordon:
"Who is selling that story?"
"Who's profiting from your average White American holding such negative views about their fellow Americans?"
She added:
"Everything we believe comes from a story that we are told."
"So, I want to know who's selling a story that White people are the contributors of society and Black people are the takers of society."
"Who is selling ignorance about the great accomplishments of the Black community and how many obstacles had to be overcome?"
"Who is selling stereotypes on cable news day in and day out?"
"And how are they profiting from it?"
"That's the question I ask in the book."
People on Twitter found McGhee's response to be the best way to respond to the caller's blatant racism.
McGhee suggests everyone pick up a copy of her book and see if the opinions that shaped their own personal narrative still hold up.
