Caste – The Origins of Our Discontents

Dr. Jeanne Meadows, Discussion Leader

Wilkerson asserts that “the caste system “provides the autonomic, unconscious, reflexive response to expectations from a thousand imaging inputs and neurological societal downloads that affix people to certain roles based on what they look like and what roles they historically have been assigned to or the characteristics and stereotypes by which they have been categorized. No group is immune to the messaging we receive about the hierarchy and thus no one escapes its consequences”

The work artfully and metaphorically explains and demonstrates this premise.

The reader should (in my opinion) be mindful of the following when reading her work as there are numerous philosophical arguments set forth:

The political community requires human agency to bring it about and as such it does not always aim for the “highest good.”

The work is replete with explanatory metaphors that enable the reader to fully comprehend both the philosophical and practical components of her assertions.

The value of this work (again in my opinion) is that the explanations and descriptions of caste and race equip us to talk objectively about our plight, to dissect its components, explain its innerworkings and attack it head on.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is unique about Wilkerson’s assertion? Does a superficial explanation of the caste system fully explain why many Americans do not achieve the “American Dream”? What is missing? Note the differences between caste and race. How are these differences explained?
  2. Are the references to the functions of caste and race in India and Nazi Germany helpful to the understanding of their role in the United States? Does Wilkerson make a cogent case for the existence of a caste system in the United States? Explain.
  3. Discuss the prevailing conceptions from the scientific and academic community concerning race.
  4. In what ways does the behavior of Blacks help to sustain the prevailing caste system according to Wilkerson.
  5. Discuss other examples that serve to illustrate the workings of the eight pillars of caste.
  6. Consider article from Kelli: Why is the opposition to the teaching of CRT mainly from the dominant caste?
  7. What has been the role of the media in perpetuating the caste system?
  8. In what ways could we convince the dominate caste to participate in changing the system. It has been stated that liberty and justice were never achievable in this country. it was always the Darwinian conceptualization of “survival of the fittest.” What is your response to this assertion?

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