Here’s Why I Hope Americans Will Read ‘Caste’ by Isabelle Wilkerson Now

Without understanding this book, it’s impossible to hope for a better future

Isabelle Wilkerson’s Caste, The Origins of Our Discontents explains how the United States of America is built upon and currently operating as a caste system not unlike that of India. With a dominant caste at the top and a subordinate caste at the very bottom, Wilkerson uses the pillars upholding caste to demonstrate why disparities in health, wealth, education, social status and more persist between castes in a country where we are told that all are not only created equal, but also have equal access to the aforementioned.

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Situated between the dominant and subordinate castes are immigrants who fit comfortably in neither dominant or subordinate castes. These castes serve as buffers within the system. Many immigrants in middle castes work to climb the caste ladder to gain greater access to the American dream. Accomplishing this requires middle castes to separate themselves…