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Everyone should read Caste because it presents an interesting and different perspective to a word that hasn’t really been associated with the United States. It highlights many of the injustices and social issues within our society and how deeply ingrained it is in the foundations of the United States.

The quote “...yet they did nothing to stop the evil, which had now grown too big for one person to stop, and thus no one person was complicit, and yet everyone was complicit” (Wilkerson 90) really speaks out to me because it shows how there isn’t just a “good” and “bad” side, but everyone who has the ability to do something or everyone who encounters injustice is involved.

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People should read “Caste” because of how much it can impact someone’s view on the racism in our country. The author does a good job of showing racism in the past and how extreme the effects of it are, showing the reader how much of what we know about racism today is impacted from the past. A quote that stood out to me from chapter 27 was “To enter a courthouse to stand trial in a case that they were all but certain to lose, survivors of slavery had to pass statues of Confederate soldiers looking down from literal pedestals. They had to ride on roads named after the generals of their tormenters and walk past schools named after Klansmen”(336) This stood out to me because it showed that no matter how hard black people fought, the white people in power were always against them for their own benefits. Having overcome such a tremendous feat like slavery and then going to a place of high standard, just to be looked in the face by a statue that put everything they went through in a positive light.

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I believe that everyone who lives in a Western nation should read ''Caste''. It is a narrative not altered by any veneer. If someone wishes to understand why we have not further progressed as a society, this book will outline that seemingly perpetual struggle for justice. I like this quote: ''It is also tempting to vilify a single despot at the sight of injustice when, in fact, it is the actions, or more commonly inactions, of ordinary people that keep the mechanism of caste running...'' (Wilkerson, 383).

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1. I think others should read Caste because it offers a different and more nuanced perspective on race in America and allows for an undeniable historical comparison to places like Nazi Germany and India. Caste easily divides our population into a hierarchy pyramid and accounts for the lack of opportunity and chance in America that exists at the bottom.
2. Something I thought was really shocking was that the Nazis believed certain American legislations (in terms of racial hygienics) were too cruel to adopt.

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I would highly recommend that people read Caste because it dives into the atrocities that have been committed to the black community not only more modern, but throughout history. It has highlighted the struggles of lower caste systems and what they go through daily, and how these castes of the past are reflected in the American social structure that many readers live within. One thing that really stood out to me in another section as well as in mine was the upper classes desire to completely rid themselves of anyone in a lower caste. In Patty’s section she references how Brahim lords would consider the shadows of Dalits, a lower class, pollution! This is extremely shocking, however a similar feeling was echoed in my section as people would set up systems called Endogamy, which was a method to control marriage to keep castes pure and discourage interraicial marriage and interaction. Things like this are mentioned and highlighted through Caste, so it would be a genuinely good read to understand how history makes up how we live and how we interact with each other today.

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I think that others should read caste because it provides a new perspective on how our society functions. It explains the hierarchy and system we live in, in a way that at least I had never really heard before.
One of the most powerful quotes I came across was “The subordinated castes are trained to admire, worship, fear, love, covet and want to be like those at the center of society, at the top of the hierarchy.”

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1. Others should read Caste because it offers a perspective that might be new to some people. Wilkerson analyzes the hierarchy in America as a caste system, and compares it to situations in India and Nazi Germany. Something that is particularly revealing, is how much the Nazis borrowed from American racial policies.
2. The most powerful fact I discovered was from Ch 8+9:

The one-drop rule in regards to classification as black or white was considered too harsh for the Nazis to endorse.

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1. Caste should be read because it provides a description of  individual occurrences that all convey messages about inequality and discrimination. It shows how the Caste system is not found in India. The practice of dividing people based on their qualities is widespread. Many sources will simply tell you this. Caste brings together information in a way which forces you to try to understand it yourself.
2. The most powerful story I read was of a Brahmin boy who wore a sacred thread that was supposed to indicate a "higher status". Once he realised what it symbolised, he removed it.

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1. I definitely think that people should read Caste. It highlights a problem that is so easily ignored because it is so built in our society. It emphasizes the problems of the caste and the inequalities it brings. The book also gives examples of the caste system in other parts of the world. It was very shocking and eye opening but informative and important to read.
2. A powerful quote I found was from chapter 22 page 289, “The subordinated castes are trained to admire, worship, fear, love, covet and want to be like those at the center of society, at the top of the hierarchy.”

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1. The Caste is an important book that others should read, because it brings many issues to light that otherwise don't get this kind of attention. We always learn in school, of the caste system in India, but what about the caste system here, in America, and how it comes to India and even Nazi Germany. It is very eye opening, and in my opinion, should be a required taught lesson in schools.

2. One quote/anecdote I found in another assigned section, (Chapter 4; “A Long-Running Play and the Emergence of Caste in America”) goes as follows, “Over the run of the show, the cast has grown accustomed to who plays which part. For generations, everyone has known who is center stage in the lead. Everyone knows who the hero is, who the supporting characters are, who is the sidekick for good laughs, and who is in shadow, the undifferentiated chorus with no lines to speak, no voice to sing, but necessary for the production to work” (39). This quote is very powerful to me, not because it outright conveys a message, but forces you to think, who is the main character, who is at the top of the American Caste system? And on the flip side, who is the background character, the bottom of the caste system, necessary for a functioning society but largely regarded as small and attacked?

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I think that others should read Caste because it discusses race and our history of discrimination. It explains some of our past and gives context for the state of our country now.
One quote that stood out to me was: " ‘What we actually ‘see’... are the learned social meanings, the stereotypes, that have been linked to those physical features by the ideology of race and the historical legacy it has left us.’” (Pg. 67). This quote stood out to me because it shows how ingrained the division of society by race is and how these divisions continue to get passed down from generation to generation.

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1. I think others should read Caste because it provides valuable and new perspectives on American history. People often forget the atrocities committed in the past, and this book brings awareness to what is often not taught in schools. The comparison between Nazi Germany and the U.S. often brings about many revelations in terms of how we view our own nation.
2. The most powerful story I discovered in my assigned section was on the lynchings in the U.S. For one particular case, William Brown, a black man, was tied up and harassed by white civilians. After he had been beaten to death, his corpse was tied and dragged around town. Not only was the rope used to contain Brown cut up and distributed as a keepsake, there were also postcards made with photographs from the lynching (photos of severed heads and burnt torsos). This specific quote, “...yet they did nothing to stop the evil, which had now grown too big for one person to stop, and thus no one person was complicit, and yet everyone was complicit.” described the bystanders during the Holocaust, yet also perfectly describes the inhumanness against black people in the U.S.

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People should read caste because it brings up a new way to explain and talk about the inequalities in America. It also highlights part of the American history that is not often talked about, but it's relevant and important to the conversation of race.

One power quote that I found in another assigned section is "“Caste is fixed and rigid. Race is fluid and superficial, subject to periodic redefinition to meet the needs of the dominant caste in what is now the US. While the requirements to qualify as white have changed over the centuries, the fact of a dominant caste has remained constant from its inception- whoever fit the definition of white, at whatever point in history, was granted the legal rights and privileges of the dominant caste” (Wilkerson pg 19).

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I highly recommend that others read Caste because it does an outstanding job on highlighting the bitter things about the United States such as our historic pattern of racism.

As for the most powerful quote I found in other people's sections, I think that on page 164, “‘Is it possible that any of my slaves could go to Heaven,’ a dominant woman in South Carolina asked her minister, ‘and I must see them in there?" I think that is a very powerful statement because since racism was so big many years ago, many people questioned if they were pure enough to be accepted by the lord himself due to their race. In this quote as well, the woman from South Carolina likely knew her wrong doings as well and asked on account of her guilt if she would have to see her own slaves up in heaven after her death. Overall, this quote proves a powerful demonstration to how bad racism really was in America, how racism influenced people's beliefs centuries ago, and how well written Caste really was.

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1. I think others should read Caste because it explains the inequalities seen in everyday life. Wilkerson uses many real-world examples to showcase and explain the many problems that comes with caste. It also shows the issue from an un-biased perspective which many history books don't do.
2. The most powerful story I discovered in my assigned section was the story of the wavy, brown haired girl. This story was powerful because it shows the Nazis and Aryan needed to feel superior, so when the Jews slowly disappeared from German life, some tired to put others down to bring themselves up.

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I think others should read Caste for a chance to broaden up the perspectives on the United States. By bringing up sentiments from the past and the connection to present day, there can be a lot of discussion and acknowledgement of disparities in the American society.
Something that caught my eye was in chapter 25 when it discusses Obama's presidency and how people reacted to the first black president of the United States. “His opponents called him the “food stamp” president and depicted the president and the first lady as simians. At opposition rallies, people brandished guns and bore signs calling for “death to Obama” (Page 318). With present day and the 2020 election, there really isn't a prominent source that reveals the hatred that Obama received during his presidency. I think it's important to show the reality of how even though the U.S elected a black president, it isn't as progressive the media makes it seem.

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1. I believe that others should read Caste because it offers a unique insight into American society. It brings forward important examples of caste systems across the world. I think it is important to see a broad range of perspectives in order to inform yourself. It is important to look back at history and acknowledge the horrible actions that have been committed.
2. The most powerful anecdote I discovered was the story of Al Bright. He was the only black player on his little league baseball team when they went to a pool to celebrate. He wasn't allowed in but eventually was allowed inside. He had to stay on a raft so that he wouldn't touch the water and "make it dirty".

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I think that people should definitely read caste if these kind of topics interest them. Not only does the book give meaningful examples of almost every aspect of caste in society, but the analyzations of these topics really show how important learning about this is, especially today. A very impactful and horrifying story came from chapter 9, where the book describes how in the US, people used picture and postcards to essentially advertise lynchings. “It was the local lynching tree, and it was performing its duty to ‘perpetually and eternally’ remind the black townspeople of who among them had last been hanged from its limbs and who could be next.” (pg. 91). People left out evidence of this horror and even sold items as souvenirs from the lynchings.

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If people want to gain more knowledge and perspective regarding the racial issues that plague our country, other people should definitely read Caste. I think so because it provides real life examples of things that happen to marginalized groups of people throughout history. Furthermore, it examines the infrastructure in place that allows for systemic racism, which enables the reader to see that a lot more progress must be made for the prosperity of everyone, regardless of their race. Not only does the book talk about racial issues, it also talks about the issues in America as a whole, when compared to developed countries.

The most powerful observation in my section was the facts about America (ch29). Although we have been seen as the powerhouse of the world, there are too many areas we lack compared to other wealthy countries. Our healthcare, education, and treatment for drug addicts are a few things where we fall behind. However, the most sad fact was that America ranked 18th in the world for happiness, which fell 7 spots since 2012. Instead of improving, the quality of life for the average American decreased. One can only assume if America will continue on this downwards trend.

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I think that everyone should read Caste because it provides an insightful perspective that is new for most, and it shows the true nature of the long lasting power structure that has existed in the US ever since it was founded and even before then. I feel that Wilkerson brings the issue into new light when describing racial divisions in America as a caste system, and it has definitely given me more to think about regarding the power structure in America. We know that caste systems exist in other countries such as India, but what most don't know, that Isabel Wilkerson writes about, is that we are living in a country right now that could be seen to have an unspoken caste system.

The "one-drop rule" in regards to classification as either black or white was considered too harsh for the Nazis to endorse. (chapter 8)

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I think that others should read caste because it brings forward a part of history and American culture that isn't talked about of acknowledged. Bringing in comparisons to India's caste system is very clarifying, because America's caste system is so ignored most people think America doesn't have one.

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I think that others should read Caste because it offers a new insight as to what’s going on in our very own society by comparing it to other injustices in history. By calling our current society a caste system while comparing it to obvious wrongdoings like the mistreatment in Nazi Germany, it forces us to look at ourselves and our own system and how we treat others. A quote that stood out to me was “It would take black families 228 years to amass the wealth that white families have now, and Latino families another 84 years” and I thought this was important because this quote alone proves that our current system is one that was built to keep certain groups down, much like the other caste systems in history. 

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I think that others should read Caste because it offers a new insight as to what’s going on in our very own society by comparing it to other injustices in history. By calling our current society a caste system while comparing it to obvious wrongdoings like the mistreatment in Nazi Germany, it forces us to look at ourselves and our own system and how we treat others. A quote that stood out to me was “It would take black families 228 years to amass the wealth that white families have now, and Latino families another 84 years” and I thought this was important because this quote alone proves that our current system is one that was built to keep certain groups down, much like the other caste systems in history. 

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Maia Dooley

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Everyone should read "Caste" because of its unique perspective on a term that  is never really used within the United States to describe our racial divisions. Rather,  we are quick to associate the ideology  with places like India and Germany. Reading this book would help Americans take accountability for the realities in our country: we are, in fact, a part of a caste system, and we ought to pursue measures to stray from that.
A quote that stood out to me came from Chapter 22: “The subordinated castes are trained to admire, worship, fear, love, covet and want to be like those at the center of society, at the top of the hierarchy.” This sentence truly emphasized that the reason why the caste system exists in America is because we have all adopted this preconceived notion that things were always supposed to be this way—that there are certain castes that were simply made to be better. We were trained and forced to adopt this mindset that some groups are inherently above all others.

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Others should read Caste because of how much it educates and informs about the disparities not only in the United States today, but in multiple eras and multiple locations. The way that race and caste are talked about in the book make it easy to follow with the reading, however emotionally hard, as it should be. I found myself very engaged in the book, and I think that anyone who wants to call themselves an ally or consider themselves educated on racism and race should definitely read this book. The most powerful quote that I discovered in another summarized section (sec 2 chapters 8 + 9) was “Mothers pulled their children inside when the wind kicked up, hurried them along, to keep them from being covered in the ash of fellow human beings.” (pg. 90)

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I believe that others should read Caste because it touches on history that most readers have never heard of. Also, the inclusion of anecdotes and short stories bring a different light to how we view the social hierarchy and racial inequalities of today. One powerful observation I found was that the Nazis thought that the racial hygienic legislations of the U.S. were too cruel for them to adopt (from Chapter 8+9).

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1.)People should read Caste because of how much it can educate people about the history of our country and its relationship with racism.
2.)“‘We think we ‘see’ race when we encounter certain physical differences among people such as skin color, eye shape, and hair texture,’ the Smedleys wrote. ‘What we actually ‘see’... are the learned social meanings, the stereotypes, that have been linked to those physical features by the ideology of race and the historical legacy it has left us.’” Pg. 67

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Others should read Caste because it depicts the sheer gravity of the United States' inequalities with race and how it surpasses the definition of racism. The issues pertaining to race that we as a nation have are comparable to caste systems found in India and previously Germany because it is systemic and has been ingrained for hundreds of years into every aspect of society. The most important quote I observed in my chapter was  “ We cannot fully understand the current upheavals or most any turning point in American history, without accounting for the human pyramid encrypted into us all. The caste system, and the attempts to defend, uphold, or abolish the hierarchy, underlay the American Civil War and the civil rights movement a century late and pervade the politics of twenty-first century America.”.