The lockdown caused by COVID-19 has laid bare the growing inequalities and
injustices in our social and economic systems today. Yet it offers a good opportunity to
understand our foundations, as well as why so many white Americans seem willing to
disregard the needs of their fellow citizens in order to maintain a system that benefits
them so mightily, while ignoring and explaining away the suffering of others.
The public, excruciating murder of George Floyd sparked an awakening among many
white people of our nation’s systemic racism, to acknowledge its power and longevity
for over 400 years on this continent. Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author, Isabel
Wilkerson, examines the often unspoken caste system that has shaped America. Caste:
The Origins of Our Discontents, shows how our lives are still impacted by a hierarchy
of human divisions, which damages not only the Blacks at the bottom, but also the
white population at the top of society today. In understanding this insidious system, I
fully agree with Albert Einstein, who said, “If the majority knew of the root of this
evil, then the road to its cure would not be long.”
Wilkerson states, “American slavery, which lasted from 1619 to 1865, was not the
slavery of ancient Greece or the illicit sex slavery of today. American slavery, by contrast, was legal and sanctioned by
the state and a web of enforcers...” “For the first time in history, one category of humanity was ruled out of the ‘human
race,’ and into a separate sub-group that was to remain enslaved for generations in perpetuity.”
The author goes on to describe caste systems in India as well as in Nazi Germany, in order to broaden our
understanding of how the system has developed in the U.S. And according to a spokesman for the German press
agency, when the Nazis were solidifying their grip on the country, they used the United States as a model for their own
racism. “For us Germans, it is especially important to know and see how one of the biggest states in the world with
Nordic stock already has race legislation, which is quite comparable to that of the German Reich.”
Another passage reveals, “In Germany, displaying the swastika is a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. In
the United States, the rebel flag is incorporated into the official state flag of Mississippi. It can be seen on the backs of
pickup trucks north and south, fluttering along highways in Georgia and the other former Confederate states…” The
author goes on to point out that, “In Germany, restitution has rightly been paid, and continues to be paid, to survivors of
the Holocaust. In America, it was the slaveholders who got restitution, not the people whose lives and wages were
stolen from them for twelve generations.”
The Epilogue of the book offers some sobering final thoughts, such as, “Caste is a disease, and none of us is immune. It
is as if alcoholism is encoded into the country’s DNA and can never be declared fully cured. It is like a cancer that goes
into remission, only to return when the immune system of the body politic is weakened…”
“Wilkerson’s book is a powerful, illuminating and heartfelt account of how hierarchy reproduces itself, as well as a call
to action for the difficult work of undoing it.”—The Washington Post
So, the question becomes, how does the white community deal with systemic racism
in this country? Given the numbers and diversity of people participating in the Black
Lives Matter protests around the world, this seemed a good time to reflect on my own
upbringing and what we can do to take advantage of a pivotal point in our history,
especially with elections on the horizon.
I was brought up in Plainfield, New Jersey, and although many of the students were
Black in middle school, I saw only a small number who were part of the “advanced”
classes, and these kids seemed very scholastically motivated. My family moved to
Littleton, Colorado, when I was 16 and from there to Evergreen in 1963. I went to
school on the Western Slope of Colorado in a basically white community and ended
up in the equally white community of Scottsdale, Arizona. Shortly after we arrived in
Colorado, all hell broke loose in New Jersey with violent race riots, burning property,
shooting and looting. I remember thinking, “What was that about? Boy, did we get
out of there just in time!” By 1967, Newark, New Jersey, was one of 159 cities where
riots took place, including one four-day tirade in which 26 people died.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER:
Walker was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala and spent over forty years helping
disadvantaged people in the developing world. He came to Phoenix as a Senior Director for Food
for the Hungry, worked with other groups like Make a Wish International and was the CEO of
Hagar USA, a Christian-based organization that supports survivors of human trafficking.
His book, Different Latitudes: My Life in the Peace Corps and Beyond, was recognized by the
Arizona Authors Association for nonfiction and according to the Midwest Review, “. . . is more
than just another travel memoir. It is an engaged and engaging story of one man’s physical and
spiritual journey of self-discovery . . .” Several of his articles have been published in Ragazine and WorldView Magazines while another
appeared in Crossing Class: The Invisible Wall, an anthology published by Wising Up Press. His
reviews have been published by Revue Magazine as well as Peace Corps Worldwide,
including one on Paul Theroux’s latest book, On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey.
His honors include the "Service Above Self" award from Rotary International. His wife and three
children were born in Guatemala. You can learn more at www.MillionMileWalker.com and
follow him on his Facebook page.
