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“You know that there are no black people in Africa,�� she said...Africans are not black,�� she said. “They are Igbo and Yorubu, Ewe, Akan, Ndebele. They are not black. They are just themselves. They are humans on the land. That is how they see themselves, and that is who they are...They don’t become black until they go to America or come to the U.K.,�� she said. “It is then that they become black.�� (Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, pp134-135)

Isabel Wilkerson describes the origins of the caste system in America and portrays the struggles of African Americans from the 1600s to the present day as a race and as individuals who have been set apart from whites. In addition, prior to coming to America, Wilkerson writes in Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,immigrants from Poland, Italy, and Ireland did not view themselves as “white.�� They identified as Polish, Italian, and Irish. It was only when they had people of color who were considered to be lower caste than they were that they began to identify as white.

As I’m sure many do, I thought of “caste�� in terms of the system in India, and the one thing I found lacking in Ms. Wilkerson’s writing is that there seemed to be too little information about the Indian system today. It boggles my mind that so many brilliant physicians and scientists who come to the U.S. came from a land of such poverty and inequity as India. But is it any different here? Her main focus is on African Americans, and her research is astounding. One would think that the term caste does not apply; however, Ms. Wilkerson points out numerous examples of its usage, including by U.S. Senator Charles Sumner in a speech back in the 1800s.

Wilkerson writes, Race is what we can see, the physical traits that have been given arbitrary meaning and become shorthand for who a person is. Caste is the powerful infrastructure that holds each group in its place.

The author gives multiple examples of the horrendously cruel treatments of slaves, which I could barely stand to read. Interestingly, she points out that when the Nazis met in Nuremberg to debate what would become the Nuremberg Laws, they studied the United States�� laws of racial segregation, intermarriage, and so on. Some of the punishments inflicted upon prisoners in the camps were reminiscent of the torture of slaves on Southern plantations, including building their own lodging. (That reminded me of Bible stories I read about the Pharaohs requiring the Hebrews to build their temples) �� except that the Nazis drew the line at some disciplines; they were considered too harsh!

There is far too much content to do this book justice. Let me just highlight some of my most memorable sections:

�� “The Man in the Crowd�� �� This refers to a famous black-and-white photograph of a crowd in Hamburg,
Germany, with their arms stretched out in salute to Adolf Hitler. There is one man, however, who is not saluting. He is standing with his arms folded across his chest. This man is believed to have been August Landmesser. I looked up his story �� it did not end well, as you might imagine. Who today would go to a political rally and be the only one to refuse to go along with the crowd?

�� The author writes about practices that kept African Americans from advancing economically and socially, such as redlining. She also talks about ridiculous practices like refusing to let blacks use swimming pools and lakes because even having their skin touch the water meant it was too polluted for whites to swim in! This sounds like something straight out of the Indian caste system where the Dalits are considered Untouchables. Untouchable. Martin Luther King realize that’s what he would have been called had he been Indian. He then realized he �� and all blacks �� really were Untouchables.

�� Another interesting fact was the origin of the term “scapegoat,�� which came from a Biblical practice of sacrificing one goat while confessing the sins of the Israelites to another and then sending it to wander into the wilderness to suffer for the sins of others, thus making it a scapegoat. Scapegoating is a common practice when there is a lower caste to take the blame.

�� As a baseball fan, I appreciated Ms. Wilkerson’s mention of Satchel Paige, who was long denied his chance to pitch in the Major Leagues. He did manage to pitch �� and impress �� many star players and retired at nearly 60 years old.

�� Finally, Caste is not just about the past. It is very current. It discusses the 2016 election and some of the Trump administration’s policies. Recently, removal of Confederate monuments has been a bone of contention. Ms. Wilkerson points out that Germany has no statues or memorials to Nazi officers. Zero. Interestingly, there are Stolpersteine, or “stumbling stones�� inscribed with the names of Holocaust victims scattered throughout cities in Europe. We must never forget. Displaying the swastika in Germany is a crime.

This was mentioned in another review, but it is one that I also had highlighted and found it quite chilling: Author/historian Taylor Branch said to Wilkerson, ��...If people were given the choice between democracy and whiteness, how many would choose whiteness?��

Rather than ending on that note, I’d like to close with my favorite part of the entire book, which was the author’s recollection of an encounter with a white plumber who came to find the source of water in her basement. He was not expecting an African American woman when he went to the home, and he did all he could to avoid doing the job. It wasn’t until she spoke to him person-to-person that he responded to her on a human level. It was like flicking a switch! If only we could make that happen everywhere. Every time.

4 stars