Published Work Archives - Tracie McMillan

I Got $4 a Week in Food Stamps. This Is the Reality of Hunger in America. / New York Times

June 24, 2025June 12, 2025

The New York Times

By Tracie McMillanMs. McMillan is a journalist covering the working class and food insecurity.Read the original piece online at The New York Times. On the first Monday morning in June, Jocelyn Walker waited for her car clock to tick 9 a.m., then scrolled her cellphone call history for a number she dials often. She had … Read more

The White Bonus: The cash value of racism in America / New York Amsterdam News (excerpt)

April 24, 2025

New York Amsterdam News

By Tracie McMillan, April 24, 2025 The following is excerpted from “The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America”, published in paperback this week by Henry Holt & Co. If American life is a river, relief from poverty and strife sits atop one of its slippery banks, and the American Dream sits safely … Read more

The UHC CEO Murder reminded me of this…

January 22, 2025December 8, 2024

The following excerpts are from Chapters 7 and 8 of The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America. I am sharing them in light of the December 3 murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthCare, one of the nation’s largest health insurers. An October 2024 Senate Majority Staff Report … Read more

Being white paid off for JD Vance—by $20 million (at least) / Reckon

January 22, 2025September 30, 2024

Reckon News

By Tracie McMillan See original article Update: The article was also co-published in Amsterdam News and Cincinnati City Beat. JD Vance, the Ohio senator and Republican candidate for vice president, does not talk much about being white. Yet an analysis of public records indicates that more than $20 million has flowed to the self-styled “hillbilly” … Read more

My Disinheritance Gave Me What I Actually Needed / The Cut

January 22, 2025August 30, 2024

The Cut

When my dad wrote me out of his will, my future — and my relationship — felt more secure than ever. By Tracie McMillanSee original article. My dad disowned me last July. The news came in the mail. In a blocky script made wobbly with age — he’s 77 — my dad spent the first … Read more

I thought my parents moved to Holly for the schools. I was wrong. / Detroit Free Press

January 22, 2025August 19, 2024

Detroit Free Press

By Tracie M. McMillan, Guest columnist.Read the original piece in the Detroit Free Press. You’d think my parents would have told me we fled integration. Instead, they said: We moved because of the schools. My family runs four generations deep here in southeastern Michigan: Pontiac and Waterford, Ann Arbor and Detroit, Rose Township and White Lake. … Read more

Gifted and Talented Programs Benefit White Students Disproportionately / Teen Vogue

January 22, 2025April 24, 2024

Teen Vogue

“Gifted” programs funnel money towards a disproportionate share of white students, Tracie McMillan explains in her new book. By Tracie McMillan, Teen Vogue I still remember the the first time I heard about “gifted” kids. I was fifteen, and taking part in a summer program for “gifted” Michigan high school students. Most of my classmates … Read more

Maximus Inc.’s Safety Net Contracts

January 22, 2025February 21, 2020

Type Investigations

Type Investigations
February 21, 2020

Type Investigations and Mother Jones have compiled the most comprehensive database of the company’s contracts for public benefits to date.

Breadsticks from a Different Time

January 22, 2025April 16, 2019

Bon Appétit

Bon Appétit
April 16, 2019

The Detroit suburbs have gone through a massive demographic change in the past 60 years. Gino’s has been around during all of it.

19 Great Restaurants to Work For

January 22, 2025March 15, 2019

Food & Wine

Food & Wine digital

March 15, 2019

When it comes to working in the average restaurant in America today, there is good news, and there is bad news.