Reflection on "Caste" by Isabel Wilkerson

Ongoing Caste Book Study with Mt. Level Baptist Church: A Reflection

Nancy Donny says:

Members of Pilgrim’s Race + Equity team are mid-way through the book study hosted by Mt. Level’s Partnership for Racial Justice. The book is Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, by Isabel Wilkerson. We are averaging between 45 and 50 participants at the weekly discussions on Zoom, including five members of Pilgrim and folks from other congregations in the Durham area and beyond. Each week we consider and discuss thought-provoking questions that help us to think more deeply about our assigned reading for the week.

One recent question asked, “What messages have you received that perpetuated falsehoods such as that Blacks are viewed as “the lowest of the low” and deemed to deserve their plight? What were the sources of these messages? (e.g. family, school, job. media, politicians, others). What have been your responses when confronted with these myths?” My small discussion group could have talked about this for hours; it was frightening to realize how prevalent such messages still are, today.

Other recent questions have focused on unconscious bias, which led to many of us realizing that we are more biased than we thought, due to assumptions we make about large groups of people based on no evidence and very limited experience. We “dominant caste” members are learning that racism is much more insidious than we knew, even among those of us who try to be unprejudiced. The book study is helping many of us to build connections with members of different backgrounds and “castes” from our own; sharing stories, feelings, experiences, and thoughts on difficult topics is helping us to overcome stereotypes we may not have known we had. It is challenging and worthwhile!