Pillar Seven By Wilkerson: An Analysis

The caste system is a social structure that dictates people's way of life, opportunities, and social customs based on the category they are born into. Originating in India, the caste system has also appeared in various societies worldwide. In the United States, the American caste system has its roots in slavery. Beginning in the 1600s, Black individuals were brought to the Americas as slaves due to their non-Christianity and the demand for cheap labor. As a consequence, the interaction between whites and blacks evolved into a racial caste system, with white slave owners as the dominant caste who punished subordinate slaves for any behavior threatening their power. This created a system where whites were automatically considered dominant and

One of the solutions Wilkerson presents for dismantling the caste system is empathy. In Pillar Seven, Wilkerson goes in-depth about the different mechanisms the dominant caste uses to maintain control and power over the subordinate caste. One of those mechanisms is violence and terror. Wilkerson asserts that the dominant caste uses terror as a tool to distance themselves from the subordinate caste and in doing so, numbing their ability to empathize with them. She states, “The only way to keep an entire group of sentient beings in an artificially fixed place, beneath all others, and beneath their talents, is with violence and terror” (Wilkerson, 2020). And so during slavery as well as during the Jim Crow Era, great terror was instilled upon people through lynchings, beatings, and psychological abuse. Furthermore, in order to continue the project of dehumanization, members of the dominant caste were rewarded for committing acts of hatred against the subordinate group, and through that, the social hierarchy is maintained. And so, Wilkerson asserts that by being empathetic towards the subordinate caste, the caste system can be dismantled since it is the absence of empathy and compassion that creates divisions among caste members and which maintains the social hierarchy. However, the United States must first acknowledge the existence of this racial caste system and then work towards dismantling it. And so this would involve recognizing each other’s humanity and more funding going towards basic education, housing, and healthcare for underprivileged black communities. In conclusion, the very first and most important step in dismantling the caste system is spreading awareness about the detrimental physical and psychological effects on its victims and for members of the dominant caste to take accountability and break