Author Dr. Robert Saul

Raising Young Citizens in the Age of Columbine

Caste – What now? (Part III)

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In a world without caste, we would all be invested in the well-being of others in our species if only for our own survival, and recognize that we are in need of one another more than we have been led to believe.1

Isabel Wilkerson

Over the last two blog posts, I have been considering the book, CASTE: THE ORIGINS OF OUR DISCONTENT by Isabel Wilkerson.2,3 I want to conclude this three-part series with some suggested instructions for moving forward.  What to do now is always a valid question when tackling tough issues.  We can just ignore the problem, or hope that somebody else fixes the problem, or personalize the problem by acknowledging that we are the problem.4  When we accept that we are problem, only then do we seriously seek to do the rest – that we are the solution and that we are the resources to make it happen.

Let me highlight several key points from the Epilogue (“A World Without Caste”) as challenges for the What Now question.    My comments follow Isabel Wilkerson’s quotes.

  • “The tyranny of caste is that we are judged on the very things we cannot change” – our skin, our facial features, our gender and our ancestry
    • I would challenge each of us to deny that we have been guilty this. I certainly have been guilty of prejudging individuals, hopefully this is now a thing of the past.  We can add to Wilkerson’s list our unfortunate and at times purposeful exclusion of those with significant physical and intellectual disabilities.  The caste system for those of lesser abilities has also been a disgrace for this country.
  • “A caste system persists in part because we, each and every one of us, allow it to exist—in large and small ways”
    • As Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminded us, “silence in the face of evil is in itself evil.” Our silence, our permissiveness, or our “blissful ignorance” allow far too many things to go unchecked. When that happens, we are directly responsible for the ills that we complain about.
  • “The goal of this work has not been to resolve all of the problems of a millennia-old phenomenon, but to cast a light onto its history, its consequences, and its [continued] presence…A housing inspector does not make the repairs on the building…It is for the owners, meaning each of us, to correct the ruptures we have inherited”
    • Indeed, we are the owners of this society. We rely on the inspectors to assist with the detection of the faults in our society, but we must act to fix these faults otherwise the deterioration continues and later becomes irreparable.
  • “We…have a choice. We can be born to the dominant caste but choose not to dominate”
    • Boy, this can be a hard one. It can be so easy to settle into a position of comfort, to not be challenged and to look the other way when viewing the plight of our fellow citizens.  I am so thankful that my mother chose to accept the path of being challenged and seek solutions in her own way.  All of us can be limited in the scope of our actions but collectively those actions can lead to powerful solutions.
  • “Everyone benefits when society meets the needs of the disadvantaged. The sacrifices of the subordinate caste during the civil rights era…benefited women of all ethnicities”
    • Only addressing the needs of those with privilege accepts a superior role and demeans those of lesser means. It is often said that we are all in the same sea, that is we are all fighting the same elements in life.  The fallacy with that analogy is that we all have different boats in that sea—some have nice fancy boats with powerful motors, and some have dinghies with holes in the bottom.  Those in fancy boats can just speed away from the storm, and those with dinghies are constantly bailing out the water and barely making any progress to get to shore.  All progress benefits all and should be our goal.
  • “It is…tempting to vilify a single despot at the sight of injustice when, in fact, it is the actions, or more commonly inactions of ordinary people…who shrug their shoulders at the latest police killing [or] the coded put-downs of marginalized people…at the dinner table”
    • We tend to avoid uncomfortable situations and fear that any conversation which defends and protects the disadvantaged will be met with criticism and rejection. These conversations can occur if we use tact, recognize life-long biases, and avoid toxic language.
  • “[We have] a moral duty to develop empathy for those who must endure the indignities that [the more fortunate] have been spared. It calls for radical empathy”
    • I love the concept of radical empathy. Wilkerson emphasizes that empathy is not sympathy or pity.  Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes can be just role-playing without more engagement.  Radical empathy is really doing the hard work to learn about the situations of others and truly listening with humility and sincerity to their experiences.  It is not about us.  It is about them, about opening up to their plight and seeking common ground.  It is about recognizing that “we are the problem; we are the solution; we are the resource.”
  • “It is not enough to be tolerant…You tolerate what you would rather not have to deal with and wish would go away. It is no honor to be tolerated.  Every spiritual tradition says love your neighbor as yourself, not tolerate them”
    • I fear that far too often we accept change as just tolerating others. In Ms. Wilkerson’s words, tolerance is not dealing with or engaging in solving issues.  Loving your neighbor, in a spiritual way, requires more than tolerance.  It requires an active role in being more pro-people and less “I hope that they just stay over there.”

Let me close this series with some statements from Isabel Wilkerson about a world without caste.  A world without caste –

  • “would look upon all of humanity with wonderment”
  • “would have no bearing on what anyone was perceived as being capable of”
  • “we would all be invested in the well-being of others”
  • “we would see that, when others suffer, the collective human body is set back”
  • “would set everyone free”

Concluding this series on CASTE, I accept the challenge to recognize the inequities amongst us, to be part of the solution and to devote my resources to make that happen.  If I acknowledge that “I am the problem; I am the solution; I am the resource,” I can make a difference.  In response to the opening quote, I invite you to do the same.

  1. Wilkerson I: Caste: The Origins of our Discontents. Random House; 2020. 476 pp.
  2. https://mychildrenschildren.com/caste-a-purposeful-system-of-exclusion-part-i/
  3. https://mychildrenschildren.com/caste-inaction-is-action-part-ii/
  4. https://mychildrenschildren.com/light-bulb-moments/