S7 Ep. 30: Cashing in on the White Bonus: Tracie McMillan on Privilege, Generational Wealth, and the Myth of Colorblindness

fiction/non/fiction

Author and journalist Tracie McMillan joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about the concept of the “white bonus” and how systemic bias generates white wealth not only in daily life but across generations. She references racial covenants, incarceration rates, and housing codes that continue to impact families, Black and white, to this day. She comments on the challenges of writing about her own experiences while also working as a journalist, and reads an excerpt from her new book, The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf and Charlie Sheckells.

Tracie McMillan

• The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America
• The American Way of Eating
• City Limits

Others:

• Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
• "The Man Who Made the Suburbs White," by Mark Dent | Slate
• The King of Kings County by Whitney Terrell
• The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
• Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
• Heavy by Kiese Layman
• Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1, Episode 24, Part I: “Jess Row and Timothy Yu on Whiteness and Writing About Race”
• Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1, Episode 24, Part II: “Jess Row and Timothy Yu on Learning From Writers Who Write About Race”
• “What’s Your Bonus” | Thewhitebonus.com

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