Among many other insights, I was especially struck by Chapter 14, in which Wilkerson presented examples of upper-caste people "overriding the rightful role of lower-caste parents & their children." We see this caste power play in the current spate of book bans, curriculum reviews, & "parental bills of rights" (which parents' rights?).
Incredibly well written. While the information is heavy and dense, I found the book to always be digestible even when uncomfortable. Truly an essential read.
1. Exhaustively and vividly details the past and present injustices visited upon black Americans, and by way of second-order effects, all Americans.
2. Uses the much older Indian caste system as a parallel example of a fixed, immutable, heritable, “divinely ordained”, violent, terrorizing system of power striation, exclusion, economic, spiritual, and political oppression that mirrors the American legacy of slavery in ways that will unsettle many Americans.
3. Presents comparisons between Nazi eugenics and the southern slave trade and its downstream effects on both descendants of slavery and on American society as a whole. Offers examples where the Nazis used the American slavers’ rules and laws as templates for the Nazi Holocaust, and in at least one instance, looked at the American rules for oppression as TOO STRONG, the Nazis instead choosing a more “inclusive” definition of Aryan than the American slavers’ “one drop” rule.
4. Reframes and …
Magisterial. Recommended.
1. Exhaustively and vividly details the past and present injustices visited upon black Americans, and by way of second-order effects, all Americans.
2. Uses the much older Indian caste system as a parallel example of a fixed, immutable, heritable, “divinely ordained”, violent, terrorizing system of power striation, exclusion, economic, spiritual, and political oppression that mirrors the American legacy of slavery in ways that will unsettle many Americans.
3. Presents comparisons between Nazi eugenics and the southern slave trade and its downstream effects on both descendants of slavery and on American society as a whole. Offers examples where the Nazis used the American slavers’ rules and laws as templates for the Nazi Holocaust, and in at least one instance, looked at the American rules for oppression as TOO STRONG, the Nazis instead choosing a more “inclusive” definition of Aryan than the American slavers’ “one drop” rule.
4. Reframes and integrates common mental models about radicalized injustice in America. The author very thoroughly paints a picture of America’s racialized caste system as being (only) incidentally about “race”, but rather more fundamentally grounded in divide-and-conquer power consolidation processes — deliberate systems of economic control that evolved repeatedly in order to maintain their efficiency through different means.
5. Offers comparisons between the German model of reconciliation — destruction and paving over of Nazi monuments or historic sites, the construction of highly visible monuments in high traffic areas, reparations — to the relatively tepid American reconciliation and apologia for slavery — to the ongoing Indian caste struggles of the Dalits (often called “The Untouchables”).
Definitely a hearty, and emotionally heavy, read. Some people are born to write — a certain subject, focus, book; and the author is one such example. Powerful, well reasoned, deeply thorough, thought provoking, inspiring, unsettling, and emotional.
Good books to read after this one would be DYING OF WHITENESS, THE CONDEMNATION OF BLACKNESS, and THE SUM OF US.
I have long thought that the racial discrimination found in all parts of the US was a simple tradition of racism based in white supremacy. @IsabelWilkerson has disabused my of my simplistic understanding with #Caste.
The US, like the 3rd Reich and India, is bound by a caste system that predicts more about the specifics of American discrimination than simple racism. Caste explains why low and middle-income White voters seem to vote against their own interests and support the Republican party whose policies benefit the wealthiest people in America. Low and middle income White voters have more to gain through the Republican party's reinforcement of racial hierarchy than they do from their policies as America's demographics shift away from a White majority.
Caste is antithetical to the American myths of individual independence, equity, and opportunity, a fact that those occupying lower castes of American society have always been aware of. …
I have long thought that the racial discrimination found in all parts of the US was a simple tradition of racism based in white supremacy. @IsabelWilkerson has disabused my of my simplistic understanding with #Caste.
The US, like the 3rd Reich and India, is bound by a caste system that predicts more about the specifics of American discrimination than simple racism. Caste explains why low and middle-income White voters seem to vote against their own interests and support the Republican party whose policies benefit the wealthiest people in America. Low and middle income White voters have more to gain through the Republican party's reinforcement of racial hierarchy than they do from their policies as America's demographics shift away from a White majority.
Caste is antithetical to the American myths of individual independence, equity, and opportunity, a fact that those occupying lower castes of American society have always been aware of. Members of upper American castes like myself that maintain egalitarian sentiments would understand more about America if they observed through the caste lens. If you would like a more egalitarian society, you should read Caste: slpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/5257052980
If we can act, White people will start to choose democracy over supremacy.
