Book Reviewed: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

The author’s lies divide two cultures New York Times (NYT) had an agenda for more than a decade for the creation and teachings of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in American schools. This newspaper wholeheartedly supported Isabel Wilkerson’s book that laid foundation for NYT’s latter book “The 1619 Project.” In this book entitled “Caste,” this word is used to refer to racism. In fact, the author never uses the term race or racism. Isabel Wilkerson’s scholarship is deeply flawed and fallacious. In the past decade, the NYT hired many authors to draft provocative books about racism and slavery in the United States. They care less about truth but hires activist reporters to strengthen cancel culture and promote wokism. These journalists emphasize racism in their project. This effort is purely reactionary and politically motivated that wrongly centers on caste system. How is that Hindus from India be compared with white Americans, who were slave traders, abusers of civil rights, mistreated native Americans and denied basic rights to Hispanic and other racial minorities throughout American history. In modern America, race is reclassified as “demographic segments” such as “inner city African Americans,” “Suburban Whites,” “Asian immigrants, ”Hispanic (white)” and “Hispanic (Black)” immigrants, and “Indian Reservations.” The demographic group called “White” became important to include poor whites who enjoyed less privilege in American colony but protected them from enslavement. Irish people were historically treated as underclass by the English, and the early Irish immigrants had similar jobs as African Americans in New York City, but their labor-color coding system gave higher class/race rating. Then how does this become a caste system in a race-based society. The race classification prevented mixing of poor whites with African Americans under Jim Crow laws, which were designed to promote racism and NOT caste system. Caste systems in ancient India evolved, just as in the United States, as a labor group by associating people with the nature of their profession. This segmentation got perpetuated because training was done through work apprenticeship under one’s parents in a family structure, thereby turning family lineages into specialized labor. For example, the Brahmin community specialized in the priestly work and one of their function is to officiate Vedic and religious ceremonies. This included recitation and memorization of the sacred texts of Rigveda that contained about 10,600 hymns. The priestly community had to recite, memorize, and transmit the text to future generations. This was done for remarkable period of more than 3,000 years since it was considered too sacred to be written down. Such responsibilities among others could be conducted efficiently by parents to their offspring within a family, and this led to the priestly families or the Brahmin communities. One must also note that the term “caste” is not indigenous to India, it was introduced by the English Colonists because the term “Jati” is related to community. For example, Brahmin could not acquire wealth by trade and labor because that was the profession of Vaishya community. Dalits historically had a good relationship with Vaishya community that excelled in trade and business professions. The comparison of the Hindu society to the Nazis is outrageous and unacceptable. Its inclusion here is presumed only for purpose of provocation. Not only did the Nazis exterminate more than six million Jews, but they were also isolated in inhuman concentration camps to decimate the entire Jewish population Europe. This book is less about promoting racial equality and more about advancing a political agenda. Wilkerson begins the book extolling the virtues of the Democratic party and vilifying Republicans. The reader is constantly reminded that Republicans are the party of white people, which is a dominant caste, and their objective is keeping that power structure.