viporras's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, Violence, Slavery, Genocide, Racism, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, War, and Death
grubloved's review against another edition
also weird that india's caste system is a selling point but is honestly barely present in the book, and that nazi germany is consistently held up as another state creating an underclass (the goal wasn't an underclass of jews. it was no more jews. this is not very analogous to a caste system).
the alpha wolf chapter was also absolutely atrocious and i think is a really good example of a lot of the problems i had with the text. it was really strange for the book to claim that racism's big downsides are largely that naturally superior people who happen to be in the wrong caste can't assume their rightful place as leaders, and that naturally inferior people who are in the upper caste should be allowed to be ruled by their betters ??? it continually seems to insist that hierarchy is not the problem, but that it is simply a wrong hierarchy and that we should adjust to follow a better natural order. just really really strange to read in a book about racism.
i really enjoyed the pillars of caste section but the rest of it just wasn't the indepth reading i was here for.
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Confinement, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Classism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Rape, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Child death, Colonisation, Torture, Racism, and Murder
arthur_harris's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Police brutality, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Colonisation, Slavery, Blood, Medical trauma, Racism, Child death, and Murder
veryill's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, and Sexual violence
wrackcity's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Racism, Racial slurs, and Death
sarahmcg's review against another edition
5.0
This books is incredibly well-researched from start to finish. Not only does it include facts and figures, but moving personal stories from the author and those she interviewed that I will carry with me for a long time. It was a new perspective to see the comparisons drawn between the US caste system (based on race and white supremacy), the caste system during Nazi Germany, and the caste system in India.
“Empathy is no substitute for the experience itself. We don't get to tell a person with a broken leg or a bullet wound that they are not in pain. And people who have hit the caste lottery are not in a position to tell a person who has suffered under the tyranny of caste what is offensive or hurtful or demeaning to those at the bottom. The price of privilege is the moral duty to act when one sees another person treated unfairly. And the least that a person in the dominant caste can do is not make the pain any worse.”
Several times throughout the book as the author moved through different time periods, I found myself wondering, “would I have been on the right side of history?” Because most of the time, white people have not been. There are many lessons/reminders to gain from this book, but a few would be: to continue to disrupt the current system in place, use your privilege to speak out, and listen to those marginalized communities who are hurting, especially when it’s uncomfortable.
“Caste is insidious and therefore powerful because it is not hatred, it is not necessarily personal. It is the worn grooves of comforting routines and unthinking expectations, patterns of a social order that have been in place for so long that it looks like the natural order of things.”
If you have read this, I’d love to discuss! I think this would be a great book club pick.
Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Hate crime, and Racism
Minor: Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual violence, and Racial slurs
beanjoles's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Sexual violence, Racism, Slavery, Torture, and Rape
Moderate: Antisemitism
buttermellow's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Antisemitism, Death, Gore, Murder, Violence, and Slavery
Moderate: Grief, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, and Rape
Minor: Gun violence and Police brutality
shanflan's review against another edition
5.0
Wilkerson's prose along with her incorporation of research, history, and anecdotes cemented the ideas in each chapter.
The unspeakable torture and separations from family that those forced into slavery endured and even the lynchings of the jim crow era seem so far in the past, but to this day the casual disregard for black life is ubiquitous as shown by the thousands of police and vigilante shootings of unarmed black citizens. But it's not only this outward display of hatred/racism that upholds the caste system; just as important are the unconscious biases, the silent compliance of the upper caste and the desire of the upper caste to keep their place as if life is a zero-sum game.
Some of the most striking moments for me:
-The notion that race is really an arbitrary social construct created in America.
- I had no idea how much inspiration the Nazis took from America in the classification and treatment of the lowest caste (noting that "the one-drop rule was too harsh for the Nazis")
-2022 marks the first year that the U.S. will have been an independent nation for as long as slavery lasted on its soil.
-The story of the little boy who wasn't allowed to swim with his baseball team but was eventually allowed to make one lap atop a floating device only after everyone else got out of the pool, reminding him "just don't touch the water"
-That the south still displays statues of confederate leaders who many are proud of rather than ashamed of, and how connected these symbols of slavery are to the notion that the upper caste will do anything to keep their perceived superiority, as shown by the 2016 election.
This was a very challenging read, but I like how Wilkerson ends the novel with a sentiment of hope. As a white person, I know that empathy is no substitute for experience itself, but with privilege comes the responsibility of allyship, and "the moral duty to act when one sees another person treated unfairly".
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Hate crime, and Antisemitism
kelseyland's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Hate crime, Police brutality, Genocide, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, and Slavery