The Washington Post - USA (2020-08-02)

B2 EZ BD K THEWASHINGTONPOST.SUNDAY,AUGUST 2 , 2020

four main group distinctions (which exclude

Dalits and other groups known as “Tribals”)

and its innumerable other distinctions based

ongeography, occupationandotherthings—

isthesamesystemasonethatdevelopedina

countrywithanentirely different historyis

easily disprovable. At times, Wilkerson criti-

cizesthose,particularlyBlackAmericans,who

objecttohercasteframeworkasmanifestinga

form of false consciousness,when there is a

legitimatedebateovertheterm’s applicability

to the United States. Yet, for Wilkerson, like

manyothers,casteismoreofametaphorthan

anything else. Herreal point is thatthere is

something of afamily resemblancein how

manysocietiestreattheirmudsills.

“Caste: TheOrigins of Our Discontents”

reachesthe public in the midstofanintense

debate over the historyofracial oppression

and the persistence of whatisoften called

structuralracialinequality. Amidproposalsto

reform or abolishpolice departments and

prisons,to explore reparations for slavery, to

undotheracialfoundationsofcapitalism,and

toreconstructmanyinstitutionsofAmerican

life,Wilkersonremindsusthatthisisnotthe

firsttime the UnitedStates, likeother societ-

ies,hastriedtocometogripswithitsfounda-

tional problem.Unless one reachesfor those

foundations and tears them out, she warns,

casteislikelytoremainwithuslongafterour

currentmomentofracialreckoningisdone.

KennethW. Mack,ahistorianandaprofessorof

lawatHarvard,istheauthorof“Re presentingthe

Race:TheCreationoftheCivilRightsLawyer”a nda

co-editorof“Th eNewBlack:WhatHasChanged—

andWhatHasNot—WithRaceinAmerica.”

devotes only limitedspace to comparingthe

NaziregimetoAmericaorIndia,althoughshe

doesminethatregimeforotherpurposes.The

Nazi regime,she argues,relyingon recent

work by the legal historian James Whitman,

borrowedsome of the legal structure for its

notoriousNurembergLaws from American

statutessuchasracial-intermarriageprohibi-

tions thatwere on the books in mostU.S.

states. Present-dayGermany, she also points

out, officially repudiates and remembersthe

horrorsof its racial past, while the United

States often celebrates the defendersof slav-

ery.Still,itistherecognitionofthesimilarities

between the United States and India that

providesthefoundationforthisbook.

As Wilkerson acknowledges, manyothers

have also felt asense of kinshipbetween

Indian caste and Americanrace. Since the

middleofthe19thcentury, criticsofcasteand

Britishcolonialismin India, and anti-racist

activistsintheUnitedStates,haveminedthe

analogytoproductive effect. Martin Luther

KingJr.visitedIndia,theDalitleaderBhimrao

AmbedkarstudiedintheUnitedStates,anda

hostofwriters, activists and intellectuals in

India and America also made use of the

analogy, asthehistorianNicoSlateandothers

have shown.Proponentsof white supremacy

have done so as well, analogizinghigh-caste

Indians,whotendtobelighter-skinned,tothe

“Caucasian”race throughan imaginedread-

ing of the word “Aryan.”Mid-20th-century

social scientists, includingAllison Davis, Oli-

ver Cromwell Cox, John Dollardand Gunnar

Myrdal, also argued about the Indian-Ameri-

cananalogy.

ThepropositionthatIndiancaste—withits

thebottomofthesocialrankingshoulddono

such things. One interviewee simply resigns

himselftowearingshoesthatdon’tfit.

Wilkersonalsosharesherownexperiences

as aprominentjournalist, seeminglyoutside

the caste thatisassignedto aperson of her

hue,suchaswhenaboutiquemanagersimply

cannotbelievethatsheistheIsabelWilkerson

whohasaskedtointerviewhim,evenaftershe

provideshim with her identification. Caste

continuesto do tangibleharm to those at the

lowestrung,Wilkersonargues,harmthatcan

bequantifiedintermsofmeasurablephenom-

ena such as different health outcomesfor

people who have to live under the assump-

tionsthatattachtothebottomcaste.

Wilkerson’s book is apowerful, illuminat-

ing and heartfelt accountof how hierarchy

reproducesitself,aswellasacalltoactionfor

the difficult work of undoing it, but the

fundamentalconceitthatdrivesitsanalysisis

oneofrecognition.Wilkersonseessomething

familiarabout the Dalits in India, and about

the racial hierarchiesthatthe Nazi regime

constructedinGermany.“Throughouthuman

history,”sheasserts,“threecastesystemshave

stoodout”—thoseoftheUnitedStates,India

andNaziGermany.Indeed,acentralsectionof

the book is devoted to setting out the “eight

pillars of caste.”These are features thatthese

three systems all have in common,such as

hierarchiesthatare supposedlynatural or

divinelyordered,heritabilityofstatus, con-

trols on marriageand sexualityacross caste

lines, prohibitionson pollutionof the upper

caste by contactwiththe lower,caste-based

occupational hierarchy, andterror and vio-

lenceasmeansofenforcement.YetWilkerson

Castehasitsoriginsinslavery,where“there
emerged aladder of humanity, global in
nature,”with“theEnglish Protestants at the
verytop”whileallothers“rankindescending
order”untilonecomestothe“Africancaptives
transported to build the NewWorld.”These
Africanswere analogous to the “mudsill,”she
writes —the woodenbeam thatanchorsa
house to its foundation and providessupport
for the whole structure. Since the Civil War
era, manycommentators have referred to
Black Americansas the essentialmudsillsof
our society.Caste is likea“container”for the
aspirations of these darker-skinnedAmeri-
cans, Wilkerson argues —aset of unstated
assumptionsabout where and how theyare
supposedto exist. While there have been a
variety of racial regimesas the countryhas
movedfromslaverytofreedomtothepost-civ-
il-rightsera, the assumptionsof caste have
remainedrelatively constant, often invisible
andnearlyimpossibletodislodge.
Wilkerson’s book is strongestwhen she
illustrates her points through poignantsto-
ries,likethatofaBlackwomanborninTexas
after the civil rights eratoparents who
simplynamed herMiss,indefiance of the
casteassumptionsthatrequiredBlackpeople
tobeaddressedbytheirfirstnames.Atother
points, Wilkerson narrates the stories of
Dalits in India, who,despite the protections
for themenshrined in the Indian constitu-
tion,can find simplethings liketrying on
clothes in astore to be nearly impossible
because of disrespectand harassment from
high-casteIndianswhobelievethatpeopleat

CASTEFROMB1

In India’s Untouchables, an African American author sees something familiar

CASTE

TheOrigins

of Our

Discontents

ByIsabel

Wilkerson

RandomHouse.

476pp.$32

XAVIERGALIANA/AGENCEFRANCE-PRESSE/GETTYIMAGES

Residentsofapoor

Delhineighborhood

fill bucketswith

water to cleanmud

fromtheirhuts

afteramonsoon

rainfall in July.

“Throughout

humanhistory,”

Isabel Wilkerson

writes,“three caste

systemshavestood

out”:thoseinthe

United States, India

did the 150,000people,and counting, that

we’velost.

We gottothiscrisisbecause our leaders

decidednottolead.Thepandemichassurged

acrossthecountrybecausepoliticiansrefused

to acknowledgethe severity of the disease,to

increasetesting and contacttracing,togive

people desperately neededeconomicreliefso

theycouldstayhome.Electedofficialschalked

everythinguptoindividualchoiceandrespon-

sibility—and then refused to give the public

cleardirectiononhowtominimizerisk.Even

as the case counts skyrocket,their response

on the other side of the pandemic.“The

governorsaiditwassafe,”Dadtoldmeas,for

thefirsttimeinmonths,hepreparedtogoout

andmeetupwithhis friends at theirfavorite

karaokebar.“Whywould he saythatifit

wasn’t?”

Afew weeks later,ashewas fighting to

breatheandterrifiedthathemightdie,hetold

me he felt betrayed. It wasone ofour final

conversations. Thenextday,hewas put on a

ventilator.Hedied five days later,without

family,asanICU nurse held his hand. My

fatherdidn’tdeservethatending,andneither

hasbeennoresponseatall:Theyforgeahead

with reopeningbusinesses, public spacesand

schoolsasifnothingishappening.Asifpeople

aren’t dying unnecessary, difficult, lonely

deaths.

Ateverystageofthisslow-motioncatastro-

phe—downplayingthevirus,disregardingthe

advice of scientists, encouraging peopleto

“liberate”themselvesfromhealthrestrictions,

pushingstates to reopentoo fast, withouta

plan—theTrumpadministrationanditsallies

havemadeonethingabundantlyclear:

People likemydad are expendable, no

matterhowtheyvote.

Judging by other countriesthathavecon-

tained their outbreaks,it seems obviousthat

the coronavirus was not some unforeseeable

natural disaster thatwewere helpless to pre-

ventormitigate.Irefusetoletourgovernment

officialswashtheirhandsofoursuffering.

Twitter:@kdurquiza

KristinUrquizaisthefounderofMarkedbyCovid.

virusandtwiceaslikelytodieofit.My dad,a
MexicanAmerican,wasafront-lineworkerin
themanufacturingindustry. Likemostpeople
of color,hedidn’t have theluxuryofsimply
working from home or taking aleave of ab-
sence. Notworking meant not getting apay-
check. He waspartofthe skeleton crewthat
kept the economygoing,until he was fur-
loughedinlateApril.
IalsosuspectedthatMaryvale,thePhoenix
neighborhoodwhereIgrewupandwheremy
parentsstill lived, would becomeahot spot:
PublichealthcrisesexplodeinthepoorestZip
codes,the communities suffering mostfrom
governmentdisinvestment. Maryvale is more
than75percentHispanic,with30percentofits
residentsmedicallyuninsured;about 28 per-
cent live below the federal poverty line. By
June, when Arizonaoutnumberedcases per
capita globally,myparents’ Zip code was the
state’sepicenter.Meanwhile,testingwaswoe-
fully inaccessible, leaving people standing in
linesfor13hours—in115-degreeweather—in
hopesofgettingatest.
ButbythetimeArizonastartedtoreopenon
May15, Icouldn’t competewiththe message
comingout of the White House, projected
across cable news and reinforcedby Ducey.
DadwasaRepublican.HewatchedFoxNews,
andhehadvotedforDuceyandTrump.When
theytold him not to live in fear,thatveryfew
peoplewouldcatchthedisease,thatitseffects
weren’tserious,hebelievedthem.Myparents
listenedrespectfullytomeandtowhatIhadto
sayaboutthecoronavirus,buttheyalsotrust-
edourelectedofficialswhentheysaidwewere

CULPABILITYFROMB1

Leaders told my parents not to live in fear. Icouldn’t convince them otherwise.

ROSSD.FRANKLIN/ASSOCIATEDPRESS

VicePresident

Pence speaks at a

news conference

July 1inPhoenix

aftermeetingwith

Arizona Gov. Doug

Duceytodiscuss the

surgein

coronaviruscases

inhis state.

‘The governorsaid it was safe,’

Dadtoldmeashepreparedto go

meet up with his friendsat their

favoritekaraokebar. ‘Why

wouldhe say that if it wasn’t?’