My New Book Club - Caste

Nothing like starting out a new book club with a controversy. We, of course, didn’t know it was going to turn out that way when fourteen of us here at the continuum care campus got our first book to read over the holidays. Caste, The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson was one of the few books through the library's Book Club in a Bag program that was available on short notice. Most of the clubs have their books reserved months ahead so new clubs take what they can get.

I can’t find a short synopsis of the book other than the author “…examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.” In other words it’s about origins of racism. In shocking detail. A heavy topic to be reading, especially through the holidays and our discussion was preempted by an ominous email a few days ahead from our activities director telling us that our discussion group might be “lighter in numbers because of that.” She went on to say:

“I also know that this selection will bring about big feelings and possibly some internal conflicts that some may not feel comfortable sharing at this point. Understanding that we are a new community of new friends, I ask that those who do attend the discussion do so with respect for all attendees, recognizing that we all have different backgrounds and upbringings. I’m sure it goes without saying, but please utilize the time together to encourage a civil and considerate conversation. Be willing to explain your feelings, but also open to hearing others’ perspectives. In general, please strive to make others feel respected even if you disagree.”

Don’t think that email didn’t prompt everyone to be at our first discussion meeting. Only one person was missing, but the first person to speak was visibly angry and was quick to explain why she didn’t read the book. She had read some comments about the book that said the author was blaming poor Mr. Trump for all the racial tensions in the country. Say what? It wasn’t a political book and he was bared mentioned. 

I like the woman---a lot---but I couldn’t see letting someone who hadn’t read the book hijack the discussion with junk she’d obviously picked up on a right-wing political site. So I finally spoke up. “It sounds like that comment/review you read was written by someone who only read an out-of-context excerpt from the book and not the entire book because the author barely mentioned Trump.” 

She seemed hostile through out the whole hour and a half we were there, inserting questions like, "Did she bring up the fact that blacks sold blacks into slavery?" Did she bring up that other countries had slavery?" Typical deflection stuff to divert the conversation. She couldn't have been too upset by my discussion points because the next day she used her Auntie Mame voice from across the lobby to invite me to a party at her place. That was a relief because I don't want to alienate anyone here, especially funny and fun-loving her, and I was dreading the next time I ran into her.

At one point during book club I shared a quote I’d heard on CNN recently that went: “We need to change our vocabulary because words like ‘race’ have become weaponized for unspoken propaganda.” When I started reading the book I thought the author used the word ‘caste’ as a gimmick to set her book apart from others on the topic but by the end of the book, she’d made her case that we have a caste system here…especially when she quoted many scholars from the past century who were using the label ‘caste’ when they wrote about our slavery and Jim Crow eras. 

The book was shocking in parts, full of well-documented cruelty in the three major caste systems in the world---here in America, in India and during the Nazi regime. Probably the most shocking part for me was how in-depth Hitler and his men studied the segregation and Jim Crow laws of our country to help him come up with a plan to turn the German people against the Jews and others he deemed should be outcasts. The research that went into this book was mind-blowing and extensive and over a hundred pages were devoted just to footnoting sourced material. (496 pages in all.)

The bottom line is my book club is full of interesting people and I’m excited about it. We have two retired social workers in the group, two retired teachers, my neighbor the retired psychologist, one well-read and super smart guy and the others I don't know well enough yet to know their background. The art professor I’ve been fangirling picked a seat next to me and afterward said she enjoyed sitting at my table. (She's the one who asked The Church question in my last post.) You can probably see the stars in my eyes all the way to where you live. She's living up to the myth I've had built up in my head just from viewing her art at the resident's art show. She and her husband never had children so instead they took in refugees from war-torn countries who were getting settled in America---some remained life-long friends, some didn’t. So she had some thought-provoking things to share about the challenges they faced moving here. It’s pretty clear I picked an interesting person to fangirl. And book club is going to help keep my brain from turning to mush. ©