Isabel Wilkerson's American Caste System

The English word 'caste' is derived from Portuguese and Spanish where it denotes a social hierarchy based on degree of admixture of blood or race with the Aristocrat from the Motherland at the top and the Slave- Black, or Asian- at the bottom. It makes sense to use this notion to look at Mexico and some Latin American countries as well as some West Indian islands. But, precisely because Caste is flexible, such countries might say that their relative racial harmony is its product. Whatever, the 'discontents' of 'mestizo' countries, Caste is not at the head of the list. Indeed, Mexicans praise 'mestizage'.

By contrast, America decided to go for a 'one drop rule'. Thus it has no caste- though, from the Thirties onward, it became something of a cliche for Sociologists to speak of 'caste' when they meant race and 'class' when they meant economic disparity. Perhaps the strength of racial prejudice at that time made the more exotic word safer to use. However most African American Sociologists- like E.F Frazier & O.C Cox, opposed this equation. Interestingly, Lala Lajpat Rai, who initially thought the condition of the Blacks in America might be similar to that of untouchables in India quickly rejected this notion after befriending the likes of Du Bois, Garvey & Booker T Washington. 'White imperialism', for Rai, was the common enemy. 

It has been suggested that affirmative action has caused a 'Caste' type view of race to perpetuate itself. Just as, at one time, a person who looked completely White could be a slave if her mother was a slave even if that mother also looked completely White, so- at this time- a privileged person who looks White can nevertheless retain the privilege of extra entitlements by reason of 'one drop' of indigenous or African American blood.

Nazi Germany, emulating Jim Crow America, was moving in the direction of the 'one drop rule'. Thus it too had no caste. Perhaps Hitler's popularity reflected the fact that he had no noble blood. His ancestors were farmers. Unlike the aristocratic Junkers, Hitler retained no loyalty towards, or nostalgia for, the Kaiser and the various other Crowned heads.

The Indian subcontinent has endogamous 'jatis' but their status fluctuates depending on the 'terms of trade' between different occupations more especially under non-market agricultural regimes.

 In Islam, there is a notional caste system based on 'kafa'ah' but it broke down because nobody in India could keep track of whether a particular sept really was 'Ashraf' or not. Ludicrously, a particular clan may simultaneously claim to be Jewish, Brahmin, indigenous, as well as descended directly from the Prophet and one or other of his companions. Nobody argued with Saddam Hussein when he suddenly decided he was a Sayyid. Now it is safe to do so, he and his family have been struck off that list.

In some ancient Hindu texts, there was an attempt to notionally link hierarchy to a mythical admixture theory but it lost salience precisely because endogamy has prevailed for 2000 years. Hypergamy does occur because of local peculiarities, but it is not important. Dominance is related to land ownership and is now with traditional agricultural castes who have managed to gain Affirmative Action as supposedly 'Backward' Castes.

In the Nineteenth and first part of the Twentieth Century, endogamous 'jatis' or 'biradaris' tended to assert higher ritual status because of the socially and economically regressive nature of taxation and public service provision. After Independence, thanks to Caste based affirmative action, the reverse became the norm- more particularly over the last 30 years.

Unlike America or Nazi Germany, where the State enforced 'one drop' laws, Indian Caste was independent of the State. It depended on self-enforcement by endogamous groups which, notionally, shared a common occupation. It can be understood as a type of Trade Unionism or public information signalling.

Isabel Wilkerson, a senior journalist and academic of African American heritage has written a foolish book and a foolish Opinion piece for the NYT titled 'America's enduring Caste System'. She does not understand that whereas some African Americans themselves had a notion of status as linked to degree of racial admixture, the Law and Society at large brutally insisted on a 'one drop rule'. Interestingly, having a drop of Native American blood became quite fashionable. But African American heritage was taboo. There were some exceptions to this rule, but the fact remains that there were plenty of State Laws which explicitly stipulated that even one quite remote African Ancestor was enough to alter a person's legal standing. The tragic story of people who, in order to 'pass', had to cut off ties with siblings, has this legal background. If they acknowledged their Mum, they could lose their spouse and be sent to jail for having illegally married the person they loved.

Wilkerson writes-

Throughout human history, three caste systems have stood out. The lingering, millenniums-long caste system of India.

Which, however, was no different to that of any pre-modern European nation except that 'pathogen avoidance' based Untouchability- though it did exist in Southern France and Spain- was less in evidence for Climatic reasons. On the other hand, Europe had a system of serfdom which was more coercive than that of India. Conscription too was absent in India. This is not to say coercion was absent. However 'dharna'- various types of non-violent protest- meant that those lower in the hierarchy could exercise a countervailing power provided 'Exit' was possible- which, medium to long term, was generally the case.

More recently, the Indian Caste System has been instrumentalized to help those at the bottom in a much more comprehensive manner than has happened in the US. On the other hand, India's foolish economic policies and corrupt and incompetent Congress Party have ensured that though almost everybody is desperately poor, the most desperately poor are the 'Maha-Dalits', i.e. those despised by even the pariah class which has monopolized the benefits of affirmative action. This is exactly parallel to what has happened to poorly educated African Americans, more particularly those whose lives have been blighted by drink or drugs. The fact is, the 'creamy layer' of African Americans turned their backs on 'the ghetto'. Obama was a two term President. He showed Black Lives didn't matter. Refilling the pockets of the super-rich did matter. Doing a deal with Iran mattered even more. Screw Obamacare- the thing was too complicated- Iran was supposed to be his legacy.

The tragically accelerated, chilling and officially vanquished caste system of Nazi Germany.

Germany, like other European countries, had a caste system based on 'Noble blood' though service to the State could gain one a hereditary Title. This caste system ended with the fall of the Kaiser. What Hitler put in its place was not a caste system. It was a 'one drop rule' though it was not fully implemented because that cretin decided to declare war on not just the USSR but also the USA. It should be remembered that Hitler wanted to physically eliminate non-Nordics. He was not content with enslaving them.

And the shape-shifting, unspoken, race-based caste pyramid in the United States.

A pyramid does not shape-shift. Perhaps this lady means that there is mobility within the pyramid. That was what 'one drop' was supposed to prevent. The question is, 'are there endogamous groups in the US?' The answer is- except for certain small religious groups- not really.  There is assortative mating in Wilkerson's own social class and at one time there was a preference to marry 'within' the Black community. But that preference waned. Moreover, large scale immigration of educated 'colored' people has complicated matters. Obama himself is an example of this complication. Had he not chosen to go to Chicago and work there as a Community Organizer, his cultural claim to an authentic African American identity would have looked pretty thin. Fortunately, he made an excellent marriage.

Why is Wilkerson babbling nonsense about caste? Her own marriage looks 'casteist'. She and her husband represent Black Boston Brahmins. Like the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, people like her retain prominence only by destroying the life-chances of those who might reasonably look to them for leadership.  By contrast, Donald Trump, if not genuinely a poor coal miner living in a Trailer Park which is being besieged by Mexican bandidos, is nevertheless not 'High Caste' at all.
Consider the metaphor Wilkerson uses to underpin her ruminations on the State of the Nation-

An Old House and an Infrared Light
The inspector trained his infrared lens onto a misshapen bow in the ceiling, an invisible beam of light searching the layers of lath to test what the eye could not see. This house was built generations ago, and I had noticed the slightest welt in a corner of plaster in a spare bedroom and chalked it up to idiosyncrasy. Over time, the welt in the ceiling became a wave that widened and bulged despite the new roof. It had been building beyond perception for years. An old house is its own kind of devotional, a dowager aunt with a story to be coaxed out of her, a mystery, a series of interlocking puzzles awaiting solution. Why is this soffit tucked into the southeast corner of an eave? What is behind this discolored patch of brick? With an old house, the work is never done, and you don’t expect it to be.
America is an old house. We can never declare the work over. Wind, flood, drought and human upheavals batter a structure that is already fighting whatever flaws were left unattended in the original foundation. 

How fucking posh is this woman? She doesn't have an elderly aunty, like you and me, she has a dowager aunt. This old house with plenty of spare bedrooms has been in the family for generations. Aunty is an titled widow Her son, or nephew's wife is now Lady Whatever. Aunty is the Dowager Lady Whatever.

Trump would not gas on about old houses and dowagers. He'd knock the thing down and explain why the shite condos he'll put up will be really, really, super classy.
Biden would then chip in by explaining why he's against busing and for incarcerating as many jiggaboos as possible so as to keep property values up.

Meanwhile Obama's caste of Black Boston Brahmins will be attending cottillions given by Dowagers in old houses with soffits and such like shite sprouting all over the place. No wonder this 'talented tenth' fucked up their own people at the bottom of the heap. They were high caste. Their role in life is to keep the hoi polloi in their place- and if that place is jail, or suffocating under the knee of a cop, so be it. Still, it was very kind of this gracious chatelaine to take a little time out of her busy schedule to pen an article for the NYT. Breeding tells. This literary exercise in noblesse oblige is superbly Boston Brahmin. I hope the darkies are grateful.