This was a response to a question that came in my email from McSweeneys.
Dear McSweeney’s, You asked: WHAT SHOULD THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES KNOW ABOUT YOU AND YOUR PLACE IN SOCIETY?
MY ANSWER: It is always better to approach a fearful time with knowledge and understanding. We can downplay fear, only if every individual focuses on personal worth, yet believes in specific goals going forward.
Partisans who fight against a conqueror display a deep love and belief in the country they fight for. In this time of (insert the problem) our goals must be to support every life, while preserving the positive elements of our culture.
MORE IDEAS: PRESERVE OUR CULTURE, WHILE BEING INCLUSIVE
I value what the generations before me and my generation have brought to the foundation and advancement of our country. Turning against a particular group of people in a time of upheaval and fear is always misguided. It can also get out of control in the hands of overly frightened people. That’s called hysteria, and though we are not there yet, it would be so wrong to see older generations, people of color and newly arrived immigrants as sacrificial lambs. (Now rereading, we have already seen some of this….at least in the minds of some.)
Now is a time for each of us, regardless of age, background and status, to view life on a continuum.
READING Elizabeth Wilkerson: American Life Is Still Defined by Cast (TIME MAGAZINE)
“Caste is so deeply embedded in the human subconscious, that even when laws are passed and proclamations made to protect against it, statutes may be no match for its endurance. Laws can be reversed if there is not the common will to uphold them. Even when the formal barriers are removed, caste can persist in the human hunger to be better than someone else, to assure our place in society, to quell our fears and insecurities. The structure of caste is maintained by the people within it, up and down the hierarchy, and thus the solutions must account for both the structure that holds inequality in place and the individuals who keep it running. As we have seen in recent years, and as occurred after the 1965 march in Selma, for good, or after the 1915 release of Birth of a Nation, for ill, Abraham Lincoln’s words still hold true: “Public sentiment is everything,” he said in 1858, referring essentially to the dominant caste of his era and ours. “Whoever can change public opinion can change the government.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
Walking out into the world with the intent of acceptance and understanding is the only way to preserve an open culture while dealing with our fears and discontents. Fear exists. Fear of the unknown, of those who look, dress, speak differently than we do. This a given. But strength builds when each of us encounters difference, accepting it as interesting or challenging, instead of backing away in fear.
Wilkerson writes:
“If we truly want to end caste, each of us….needs to search our souls for the ways in which we may be complicit in upholding caste and stereotype and hierarchy, as our society has so cleverly trained us to do, and to consciously work against this programming in our everyday lives if we are ever to overcome it. One reason why we haven’t ended caste is that too many people benefit from it and not enough people understand it or see reason enough for it to end.
If Census projections hold, we have 20 years to prepare for an impending demographic sea change that the country has never seen before. We have the opportunity to set a standard for how to work together to create a truly egalitarian, multiethnic democracy, a stronger, all-encompassing, reconstituted version of ourselves as a society, and to prove to ourselves and to the world that the divisions we have inherited do not have to be our destiny.”
Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize winner, is the author of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, from which this essay is adapted; out in paperback on Feb. 14. Copyright © 2020, 2023 by Isabel Wilkerson
10 Responses
Out on the ranch, we had a lot of people simply show up–many on horseback with everything they owned in their saddlebags–to apply for work.
All were evaluated by the same list of criteria in my dad’s head. How they cared for their horse. Personal care. Care for the men they would be working with. (Ranch work is hard and sometimes dangerous. You need someone willing to come to your rescue if needed!)
In all the years working with my dad, I never saw him be anything but unfailingly fair in his dealings with the multicultural trickle of people that flowed through the ranch gates.
All people were to be weighed by the exact same scales. We had new immigrants, seasoned cowboys of every colour, young men just out of the school room. All were treated with the same kindness and courtesy. Offered a meal. Given the tour. I wish everyone could have been raised by my dad! What a different world we’d live in!
You are right. The only way to walk out into the world. The only FUNCTIONAL way. LOVING way.
Thanks, Carol. What a wonderful group women and thinkers this is! Beth
I love the idea of a more diverse country. It’s been run by the white patriarchy long enough. We need more women and people of color in every phase of society, government, and business. I believe it’s the only way to move forward.
YES! Totally agree, Laurie. And you, with your love of nature and people and animals are the key to fueling understanding. Thanks for you comment and your friendship, Beth
One can easily think that caste is hardwired into us, that part of human nature is the need to have a group to use as a scapecoat; it almost seems to be universal. (Christian Cooper, the Central Park birder who also happens to be black and gay and a former employee of Marvel Comics, had some things to say about that in his recent memoir). But if it was hardwired into us, why would we realize it is wrong? And if it is wrong, can we not destroy it? It’s going to be hard, and there are those who just are so frightened at the prospect of a white minority country within our lifetimes that they would do anything to make sure it doesn’t come to pass. Why – because they are afraid those new majorities will do to whites what whites did to them? You are right – the status quo exists because too many benefit from it. But that doesn’t make the status quo right.
Thanks, Alana. Beautifully said and thought out. Status quo should erase color, making us all equal under the law and under God. Will that ever happen?
We struggle to make it so. Thanks again, My Friend.
The swing back and forth across the spiral of time, of action and reaction is difficult to cope with. It isn’t logical. Culture doesn’t work on logic. It tends to absorb the weak into the strong. Incorporation of threats then dilution of them. Women have to build a stronger community of women, teach about love, patience over judgment, and recognition of the oneness of life. Without our taking on more leadership we may be in deep doo-doo..
The swing back and forth across the spiral of time, of action and reaction is difficult to cope with. It isn’t logical. Culture doesn’t work on logic. It tends to absorb the weak into the strong. Incorporation of threats then dilution of them. Women have to build a stronger community of women, teach about love, patience over judgment, and recognition of the oneness of life. Without our taking on more leadership we may be in deep doo-doo..
Nancy, what a beautiful and logical answer. And yes, we have to stand as tall as we can, take on leadership, speak out. WE have to be there to protect our children, our elders.
We have to help settle these discontents. Thanks so much for your answer.