Caste

Caste unveils the hidden cultural and societal rules of our class system, including where it comes from, why it’s so deeply entrenched in society, and how we can dismantle it forever and finally allow all people to have the equality they deserve.

Wilkerson believes eight pillars that make up every caste system are:

1. Divine Will and the Laws of Nature. This is when religious beliefs make it hard to change the way things are. In India, Hindu texts describe a caste system that places a series of groups in order. Those at the bottom are stuck for life paying off a karmic debt. Canaan – one of Noah’s three sons, is a curse to be a slave-based on the old testament. Some people interpret Canaan to have dark skin.

2. Heritability. This means you are born into whatever caste your parents belong to.

3. Endogamy and the Control of Marriage and Mating. Endogamy, which means marrying within your caste, was strictly enforced, especially in India. There were times in America when the mere accusation that a Black man touched a white woman ended in lynching.

4. Purity vs Pollution. This is when people insist on maintaining a “pure” bloodline. In Nazi Germany, Jewish people were forbidden to go near any water that might touch an Aryan German. Also, African-Americans were banned from swimming pools.

As you can see, caste systems form around arbitrary but culturally strengthened rules. The remaining four pillars were built on fake reasons for why those rules were “necessary.”

The remaining 4 pillars are made up reasons to keep the other four in place: 5. Occupational Hierarchy. People claim someone has to do the hard and menial jobs in society. As an example, Americans argued that low-status jobs were for Blacks. 6. Dehumanization and Stigma. Some groups dehumanize other groups to elevate themselves. Nazis did this to the Jewish community, and America has done the same to African-Americans. In both cases, the lower-class people are subject to torture and medical experiments, sometimes solely for the higher caste’s enjoyment. Blacks and Jewish people were also greatly stigmatized. They blamed Nazis for Germany’s loss in World War I and the economic downturn that came after. In the US, a high crime rate and economic challenges were blamed on African-Americans. 7. Terror as Enforcement and Cruelty as Means of Control. Tragically, whippings, burnings, and hangings were things both Nazis and American slave owners did as a means of control or to serve warnings. This often happened on plantations. Hangings and burnings continued even after slavery was abolished. 8. Inherent Superiority vs Inherent Inferiority. Interactions between castes are dominated by a long, unspoken list of rituals, rules, and traditions to…