The affordable housing crisis has been at the forefront of discussion this year highlighted by skyrocketing home prices and eviction moratorium expirations. A host of solutions are being discussed and pursued to solve this seemingly intractable problem, including rezoning single family lots for greater density, promoting accessory dwelling units, offsite modular construction, and housing reparations. Join us on September 9th to discuss what role structural engineers can play in creating an equitable built environment specifically related to access to quality housing.
In preparation for this discussion please review the following materials:

• Take a moment to review the redlining history of your home city to personalize the discussion (https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/).
• Skim through the Introduction and The Legacy of Redlining section of the “Crisis, Response, and Recovery: The Federal Government and the Black/White Homeownership Gap” report from the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley to understand the enduring impact of redlining.
• Listen to or read one or both of these resources to connect the dots of our exclusionary housing history to the current discussion on equitable access to housing.
  • “Chapter 7: Living Apart” of The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee.
  • “Location! Location! Location!” Code Switch Podcast

We will be discussing the New York Times Best Seller The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee. While racism is typically discussed as a force that negatively affects people of color, in this book, Heather McGhee takes us to different corners of the USA to dive into how racism and the zero-sum game mentality negatively affects everyone. The author showcases several examples throughout American history of how racist policies and practices have negatively affected BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and, indirectly, white people too. McGhee also discusses how the Solidarity Dividend, which is a gain resulting from people joining forces across racial lines, can help us achieve a common goal as a collective rather than failing to do so individually. More specifically, we will be discussing the following chapters:

• Chapter 2: Racism Drained the Pool
• Chapter 9: The Hidden Wound
• Chapter 10: The Solidarity Dividend

Here’s a preview of the book in an interview with Heather McGhee on NPR’s Fresh Air:
'Sum Of Us' Examines The Hidden Cost Of Racism — For Everyone
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Additional references for discussion:

• Page 4 of the NCSEA SE3 Discrimination and Harassment Topic Brief, summarizes how discrimination/harassment affects the career satisfaction of those who experience it:
• The article How Diversity Makes Us Smarter  argues that working and collaborating with others across race, gender, national origin, etc. leads to innovative and creative solutions.

Tune into this month’s book club, in which we will be discussing the concept, history, and construct of whiteness, different views of racism and unconscious bias, and their impact on how we interact with each other. As a group, we’ll discuss some of the narratives in the video, our response to the podcast, and our awareness and comfort level in talking about race and racism. We will reflect on our personal experiences in living in primarily white environments, expectations of people of color “acting white”, and the ways in which we can move past just talking.

Estimated Preparation time: Less than 1 hour

• Video | “Debunking The Most Common Myths White People Tell About Race”  | DiAngelo  3.5 minutes
• Video | “Why Are We Still Talking About Racism?” | DiAngelo  4.5 minutes
• Podcast | Scene on Radio: Seeing White | Biewen: Excerpt of Part 1 (7.5 minutes) and Part 2 (29 minutes)
• Article | Understanding My White Privilege | David Phillips - 5 minute read

This will be a casual discussion open to all and no registration is needed; just join via the Zoom Link provided. Please email se3@seaonc.org with any questions.