With the deepest respect, I disagree with @Isabelwilkerson's recent piece in The New York Times comparing America's racial hierarchies to the caste system in India. /1 (Thread)

To fully understand the horrors of the caste system in India, you have to know the justification for it. Many Hindus believe that those born in lower castes are fundamentally evil human beings that are being punished for past wrongs. /2

While there is a history of dark skin being considered a "mark of Cain" in White America (Mormons in particular believed this), this is not a widely held belief today.

Unfortunately in India, the idea that Dalits are fundamentally evil due to past lives still persists. /3

The insidiousness of the caste system lies in the fact you are permanently economically marginalized b/c you are banned from taking certain jobs. India's reservation system (one of the widest reaching affirmative action programs on the planet) has tried to fix this. /4

A Brahmin is a scholar/teacher/priest, a Kshatriya is a King/soldier/landlord, a Vaishya is a merchant/businessman, while a Dalit (or Untouchable) works with human waste and the dead. You cannot escape these categories. /5

If a Dalit's shadow fell on a Brahmin, they immediately had to go home and take a shower. A Dalit touching a higher caste person resulted in that individual having to endure a cleaning ritual or becoming a Dalit (in extreme cases). /6

While there are similarities (segregation of society b/t Black Americans and White Americans, economic marginalization, etc.), the Hindu caste system is a far more extreme and deeply entrenched system. /7

There is no conditional acceptance. No chance to integrate with society in any meaningful way for a Dalit. There is no rising in station.

And you are overtly declared evil b/c of crimes you have not committed in this life. /8

Children of Dalits are actively dehumanized. They are considered "spawn" more than small kids deserving of compassion. There is quite literally no way for a Dalit to prove they are not evil. /9

I do not seek to minimize the Black experience in this series of tweets, but I do hope to demonstrate that the caste system being tied so deeply to religion makes it a unique, and incredibly difficult seed to undo. Even conditional acceptance is impossible. /10

The justification for the caste system and treatment of Dalits in India makes it distinct from the experience of Black America.

Not worse. Not better. Merely distinct. A unique, standalone experience. /11

I respect the point that @Isabelwilkerson is making in her piece. I merely question her method by using the Indian caste system.

Regardless, it is a good piece and I invite others to come to their own conclusions. /12 (End) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/magazine/isabel-wilkerson-caste.html?smid=tw-share