A must read! One of the main points this book makes (and I agree with) is a lot of people, esp white people, are not aware and have not been taught that America is and has been a caste system since the beginning of the formation of the country as we know it today.

The brutality we’ve seen isn’t new, and in fact, since a lot of people have been comparing it to Nazi Germany, is the origin and base and blueprint for their operations and actions. Although, as Isabel Wilkerson lays out plainly in this book, even Nazi Germany didn’t go as far as brutal as sick as depraved as the US dominant caste.

Wilkerson spends a lot of time comparing the US, Nazi Germany, and India and talking about the history of each.

A lot of the writing includes analogies and anecdotes and stories and most of the time reading these you might feel sick or rage or cry because even though for example even though I might know or have heard the stories before, reading them in detail again especially being aware of a bit of what’s been happening in this country right now and for the last years…

She then goes through the “Pillars of Caste” and what would a caste system include.

One of these is divine will. Essentially, the dominate caste believes that through divine will, they have the right to barbarically subjugate the lower castes.

This is something that really boils my blood.

Divine enablement is one of if not the most depraved diabolical evils that exists. Enabling behavior based on a divine will or direction is sick and has been the root of so much harm across history and the planet.

It’s illogical. And that’s why it’s hard to fight because how can you fight a belief especially if a lot of people are not open minded to other ways of thinking and they literally cannot imagine or don’t want to, a different belief system, or that they are wrong, or what they are doing is causing harm.

In wrapping the book up, Isabel states, “With our current ruptures, it is not enough to not be racist or sexist. Our times call for being pro-African-American, pro-woman, pro-Latino, pro-Asian, pro-Indigenous, pro-humanity in all its manifestiations.”

She talks about radical empathy. Educating oneself and listening humbly to understand another’s experience from their perspective not as we imagine we would feel. Which is empathy, not sure why we need that to be radical.

She goes on “We are responsible for recognizing that what happened in previous generations at the hands of or to people who look like us set the stage for the world we now live in and that what has gone before us grants us advantages or burdens through no effort or fault of our own, gains, or deficits that others who do not look like us often do not share….We are resposible for our own ignorance or with time and openhearted enlightenment, our own wisdom.”

So, if you would like to take responsibility for recognizing what’s happened before, the ignorance many of us have been conditioned into, and what's behind today's system and events, this is a good book to add to the list.

DNF @ 30% - I can't listen to 15 more hours of how women are talked about and treated in this book, too many ICK instances happening over and over. I'm out lol