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sarakomo 's review for:
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
by Isabel Wilkerson
2021: An incredibly timely take on how racism is currently manifesting itself in America today.
I both knew quite a bit of what Wilkerson covered in this book (for example, the shock that most Africans experience upon coming to the United States, as never have been treated as "Black" before) and did not know many things she discusses (for example, the extent to which the Nazis based their laws on examples from the American south).
I was particularly struck by Wilkerson's trip to India to attend a conference. She met a fellow researcher on caste, who needed to ask her what her caste was by US standards. Wilkerson, who has moved through life in America with people judging her immediately upon sight, with no regard to her degrees or publications or family history, was taken aback by this question. It's something that I have never had to grapple with, and was a really eye-opening anecdote to how we judge others in the US.
I can't help but wonder if Wilkerson wished that she could have waited on publishing this book, and have the hindsight of the George Floyd protests, the end of the pandemic, and Biden winning the 2020 presidential election in the rearview mirror before wrapping up her conclusions. However, I imagine that before 2021 is over, I'll have another seven (plus or minus) example reasons that could be good arguments for why waiting until 2022 would have been better. I (unfortunately) expect that I will continue to have good examples of racism for a long time now.
My only hesitancy in giving this book five stars was its repetition. This is completely understood; racism is everywhere and it is happening constantly, everyday. That being said, I did not feel like I quite needed every single example so thoroughly fleshed out. Perhaps that is my white privilege talking, and I would be equally as critical if it were under-researched. I would recommend a slow move through this book, with time and space to reflect on each chapter, because it is A LOT. You cannot speed through this book in the same way that I made it through [b:Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America|53056522|Mediocre The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America|Ijeoma Oluo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1569299522l/53056522._SY75_.jpg|66444954].
I both knew quite a bit of what Wilkerson covered in this book (for example, the shock that most Africans experience upon coming to the United States, as never have been treated as "Black" before) and did not know many things she discusses (for example, the extent to which the Nazis based their laws on examples from the American south).
I was particularly struck by Wilkerson's trip to India to attend a conference. She met a fellow researcher on caste, who needed to ask her what her caste was by US standards. Wilkerson, who has moved through life in America with people judging her immediately upon sight, with no regard to her degrees or publications or family history, was taken aback by this question. It's something that I have never had to grapple with, and was a really eye-opening anecdote to how we judge others in the US.
I can't help but wonder if Wilkerson wished that she could have waited on publishing this book, and have the hindsight of the George Floyd protests, the end of the pandemic, and Biden winning the 2020 presidential election in the rearview mirror before wrapping up her conclusions. However, I imagine that before 2021 is over, I'll have another seven (plus or minus) example reasons that could be good arguments for why waiting until 2022 would have been better. I (unfortunately) expect that I will continue to have good examples of racism for a long time now.
My only hesitancy in giving this book five stars was its repetition. This is completely understood; racism is everywhere and it is happening constantly, everyday. That being said, I did not feel like I quite needed every single example so thoroughly fleshed out. Perhaps that is my white privilege talking, and I would be equally as critical if it were under-researched. I would recommend a slow move through this book, with time and space to reflect on each chapter, because it is A LOT. You cannot speed through this book in the same way that I made it through [b:Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America|53056522|Mediocre The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America|Ijeoma Oluo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1569299522l/53056522._SY75_.jpg|66444954].