A review by shanflan
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
It is extremely important that we face the horrific reality of our past (and present) to hope for a better future. I learned so much. Everyone should read this.
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".
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".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Hate crime, and Antisemitism