Let’s cover one other aspect of Racism that needs our attention. Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste, The Origins of our Discontents” is the overall most insightful book on this topic I have ever read. (I think it should be required reading for every high school student in America.) Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize winner, says that we are dealing with more than a race issue, we are contending with a caste system.
“Race, in the United States, is the visible agent of the unseen force of caste. Caste is the bones, race the skin.” A caste system, she writes, is “an artificial construction, a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups on the basis of ancestry and often immutable traits, traits that would be neutral in the abstract but are ascribed life-and-death meaning.”
One thing I learned from her is that the Nazi’s used the Jim Crow laws in Mississippi, AL, and LA as models for their antisemitism laws. However, the Nazis weren’t willing to go as far on blood lines to relegate someone to the subordinate caste. People with less than 25% Jewish ancestry were not considered Jews whereas Americans with as little as 4% African blood were classified as “negroes” in some southern states and could thereby be legally discriminated against.
In a caste system, it is crucial that the subordinate class be kept in its place. A common aspect is to establish the mindset that they are not only inferior, but unclean. She spends some time talking about public swimming pools. If one or more blacks went swimming in a public swimming pool, standard procedure was to completely drain and clean the pool before whites could use it again. We are talking during my lifetime (the 50’s and 60’s) and not just in the Deep South.
This Caste system became well established in the English colonies by the mid-1600’s. The Civil War was the first major step in ending it. But it did not do so. (Even Abraham Lincoln was not convinced that blacks were equal to whites.) One of the main objectives of Reconstruction was to bring about an equality of the races in the Southern States. It was abandoned after a dozen years, and our society re-imposed the caste system in full measure with Jim Crow laws. To the disgust of our allies, the system was kept firmly in place through two world wars. When President Truman mandated integration of the US military in 1948, it created a major rift in the Democrat Party. The caste system was not legally and officially ended in the United States until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (And that resulted in the abandonment of the Democrat Party by the dominant race in the South.)
So, for over 300 years, there was an established caste system in the United States. The Core Belief of the US caste system was that whites are the superior race and should be the dominant caste and blacks are the inferior race and should be the subordinate class.
This legal ending of the caste system occurred the year before I became a teenager. Common sense tells you that passing a law does not automatically change what people think and believe and pass on to their children and grandchildren. Human nature is tribal and selfish. For those who have wealth and power, it is human nature to do whatever it takes to keep it and to justify doing so.
We are at an inflection point in our society where we can either continue to buck the tide and move forward toward achieving our core creed: “all men are created equal”. Or we can regress and go back to where the dominant class was stronger and greater. Therein lies the most powerful appeal of “Let’s Make America Great Again”. From the perspective of many whites, we were at our Greatest before we ended the caste system.
Most relevant comments:
Excellent piece David then you got to the last paragraph, and you literally fell in the toilet shame on you. For some reason you cannot leave 2016- 2020 alone and during that time period is America’s and the World’s greatest disaster, and what we are doing today is better, Inflation at 8.3% (In real terms more like 20+ %), as of today we have allowed over 2.1 MILLION ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS into America in the last 1`5 months, we are on the verge of a massive recession, Interest rates are now 6% plus for new homes. Make America Great Again, and Build Back Better are nothing but catch phrases for the political posturing of fools on both side of the equation. What is your solution? Pointing finger at one person be it Trump or Biden is foolish, The caste system is well and blooming in America and has been from our formation as a country and is thriving today fueled by comments in your last paragraph as an example, I enjoyed your pieces when you were in the Navy and on your family life stick to those as they are real.
John, this has nothing to do with illegal immigrants or build back better or any other Democrat policy. The question that I am trying to address here is what we need to do to move further toward fulfilling our national creed that “All men are created equal”. The many tragedies which led to the explosion of the Black Lives Matter Movement (worldwide, no less) following George Floyd’s murder evidenced that our society is not yet where most of us want it to be. The MAGA Republican approach, as I understand it, is to say, “enough has been done, don’t talk about it, and definitely don’t teach relevant history about race and caste to our children.” The Dems/Progressive perspective was very well articulated by the Ken Burns post. At great cost in blood, treasure and political fortunes, we have eliminated the legal aspects of the caste system in America. However, we are not there socially. I believe that we are at an inflection point where many people in the dominant white caste are open to reversing course to the halcyon days of the mid- 20th century. It will not be easy to move forward, just as it was not easy to get to where we are now. Pointing fingers will backfire and not work. What is necessary is for people across the political spectrum to understand the history of how we have gotten to where we are. There is much to be proud of when you consider where we started. (That has been one of the main points I have tried to make with these posts.) The term that has been attached to this educational process is Critical Race Theory which has become politically toxic. So I guess we need a new name for it. Regardless of what it is called, it is very necessary if we are going to move further forward. And if such a process banned, then I believe the white nationalists will have their way and we will regress as a society.
John, are you affirming racism and the caste system? Your comments about immigration are nonsensical. We are a nation grounded in welcoming immigrants. Your fear is what? Are you placing responsibility for our economy on Joe Biden?
John, we have needed to expand immigration for many decades and remove the ridiculous barriers that prevent immigrants from being documented and put on a path to citizenship. Racism and caste systems have always been at the core of our dysfunctional immigration system. We have an enormous need for workers throughout our economy.
David you insist that if one thinks MAGA one is a Trump lover and needs to be chastised. The term has become one of the leading terms if you don’t agree with a position then they are MAGA people. George Floyd and others who have been treated by the authorities in an unacceptable manner are correct and we need to fix that. This is not a MAGA or a BBB thing it is an AMERICAN thing, we have to solve it. The caste system is alive and flourish’s in America our very political system reeks of it and the Military is part of it, business is is part of it. The system is wrong and needs to be fixed, however how do you do it, by blaming the MAGA or the BBB people no. Everyone one of us has to do better in our own little way to fix the problem one small piece at a time. When the So called MAGA people marched on the capitol it was wrong and the same applies to the BLM people when they burned down police stations and occupied government buildings. Wrong is wrong regardless of whom does the wrong. CRT being taught in our schools is questionable at best teach history the truth and let the cards fall where they may. Many of the things in America need to be fixed but we cannot continue to blame our forefathers for everything, when will we stand up and fix the problem. Destroying history is not a solution, history teaches all of us both good and bad so that we don’t do the bad again, Young people today need to see both sides of history not one side, they then will chose the correct side and live accordingly.
Don, Your comments on Immigration are excellent we have and archaic out of date system and it needs to be fixed. However allowing several million to come accross the border and be turned lose in America is not the solution. Our elected officials need to fix the system, but as long as we have the long term political patronage system, we currently have nothing will change. All levels of government function on the who do you know from the Federal, State, and the City and County systems for both political parties, we have become a bunch of finger pointing people blaming the other side for what I refuse to do to fix the problem. All one has to do is attempt to contact one of your elected officials and you quickly find out where you stand ” how much did you give to my election/reelection”.
John, I think you and I are in agreement on a good bit here. You agree that the caste system exists and we need to end it. I think we both agree that the teaching of true and accurate history is essential for moving forward. CRT taught wrongly will be counterproductive. Whatever term we need to coin for teaching our children and ourselves about the true and relevant history about racism/caste system needs to be done. Banning the teaching of this subject is a MAGA perspective and one I disagree with.
David, I think teaching History is what we need to do good and or bad, it in itself is the real teacher so we don’t repeat past mistakes and or wrongs.
CRT is a law school application that has been demonized by an ignorant opposition that has taking it out of context. I find nothing objectionable with the theory in its proper context.
“It has long been understood that the MAGA movement is heavily dependent on White grievance and straight-up racism. (Hence Donald Trump’s refusal to disavow racist groups and his statement that there were “very fine people on both sides” in the violent clashes at the white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville.)�Now, we have numbers to prove it.�The connection between racism and the right-wing movement is apparent in a new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute. The survey asked respondents about 11 statements designed to probe views on racism. For example: “White Americans today are not responsible for discrimination against Black people in the past.” The pollsters then used their answers to quantify a “structural racism index,” which provides a general score from zero to 1 measuring a person’s attitudes on “white supremacy and racial inequality, the impact of discrimination on African American economic mobility, the treatment of African Americans in the criminal justice system, general perceptions of race, and whether racism is still significant problem today.” Higher scores indicate a more receptive attitude to racist beliefs.��The results shouldn’t surprise anyone paying attention to the MAGA crowd’s rhetoric and veneration of the Confederacy. “Among all Americans, the median value on the structural racism index is 0.45, near the center of the scale,” the poll found. “The median score on the structural racism index for Republicans is 0.67, compared with 0.45 for independents and 0.27 for Democrats.” Put differently, Republicans are much more likely to buy into the notion that Whites are victims.�The poll also found that the religious group that makes up the core of today’s GOP and MAGA movement has the highest structural racism measure among the demographics it surveyed: “White evangelical Protestants have the highest median score, at 0.64, while Latter-day Saints, white Catholics, and white mainline Protestants each have a median of 0.55. By contrast, religiously unaffiliated white Americans score 0.33.” This is true even though Whites report far less discrimination toward them than racial minorities do.�The survey also captured just how popular the “Lost Cause” to rewrite the history of the Civil War and downplay or ignore the evil of slavery is on the right: “Republicans overwhelmingly back efforts to preserve the legacy of the Confederacy (85%), compared with less than half of independents (46%) and only one in four Democrats (26%). The contrast between white Republicans and white Democrats is stark. Nearly nine in 10 white Republicans (87%), compared with 23% of white Democrats, support efforts to preserve the legacy of the Confederacy.”�Americans who fully support reforming Confederate monuments have a much lower structural racism index score, while those who oppose it have a much higher score. The same is true when it comes to renaming schools honoring individuals who supported slavery and racial discrimination or changing racist mascots.�Those who want to keep Confederate monuments and offensive mascots in place might deny that their views have anything to do with bigotry, but then again, they often deny the legacy of racism and paint Whites as victims, too. In general, MAGA forces have one goal when they amplify “replacement theory” or fuss over corporations promoting inclusivity: to maximize White anger and resentment.�Robert P. Jones, who leads PRRI, tells me, “While this result may seem surprising or even shocking to many White Christians, it is because we do not know our own history. If we take a clear-eyed look at our history, we see a widespread, centuries-long Christian defense of white supremacy.” He adds, “For example, every major Protestant Christian denomination split over the issue of slavery in the Civil War, with Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Baptists in the South all breaking fellowship with their Northern brethren.” Given that history, Jones says, “it’s hardly a surprise that a denial of systemic racism is a defining feature of White evangelicalism today.”�The PRRI poll shows the MAGA movement has done a solid job convincing the core of the GOP base that they are victims. And let’s be clear: An aggrieved electoral minority that believes it has been victimized and is ready to deploy violence is a serious threat to an inclusive democracy.”
Don, You make a very strong case here for teaching true and relevant history as it relates to racism, white supremacy and also Church denominal history. I am an optimist by nature, so I choose to believe that if conservative Americans who currently are pro-Confederacy learned the over arching truth, they would change their perspective and realize how important it is to teach relevant CRT to school aged children. However, the cynical side of me says that in this polarized information siloed world we currently live in, teaching what is true to people predisposed otherwise will be fruitless. Perhaps we need a benevolent progressive dictator who will make a concerted effort to re-educate all Trumpites into changing their view points and believe as we do. Does anyone have any connections with the Viet Cong/North Vietnamese? They seem to have figured out how to do this effectively. (I am just joking, of course.)
David, actually I believe the right approach is exactly what you are doing. The enemy of polarization is unconditional love, truth, and a non anxious presence when irrationally attacked for telling the truth. We need to talk in the next f… See more
Don, That means a lot coming from you, Don. Call me and let’s pick a time and place to meet.
Return to links page: https://respectfulpointsandcounterpoints.com/links-to-discussion-on-understanding-progressives/