Isabel Wilkerson Instagram – Who would ever choose to spend years and years on a book (or any project, for that matter), only to have it come out in the middle of a global pandemic when everything was on lockdown and when there was no way to know how, or if, it would reach anyone or how they would respond?
It was four years ago today that, in that isolating and virtual landscape, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents came into the world. There was no book tour— no bookstores or libraries were open. It was in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and mere months before one of the most fraught and pivotal presidential elections of our lifetimes, that, unbeknownst to us, would lead to an insurrection.
It turned out that people found Caste after all, in part because it helped to explain what had defied explanation, training a searchlight on the ruptures we have inherited as a nation.
It seems that this was the exact moment it was intended to come into the world. Readers kept it on The New York Times bestsellers list for 58 weeks in hardcover and months more in paperback.
No longer restricted as before, I’ve been making up for lost time this past year, criss-crossing the country from Boston to Baton Rouge, from New York to Seattle, and cities in between, relishing the chance to see and to commune with you in person.
Thank you for recognizing that caste is not theoretical, but is, in fact, built into the foundation of our country. It is playing out before our very eyes as we observe divisions that strain comprehension until you look at the x-ray that caste provides us. As many of you have said to me, once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
And on this fourth birthday of my second-born book, I wish to express — and I hope that you feel — the love and gratitude I have for every single one of you. Thank you for reading my work and allowing it to shape how you see the world.
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Here are a few scenes from the road: Duke University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tanglewood, Emory University, Cleveland, Buffalo, Southern University, Queens University, a beautiful ovation in Boston.
#castetheoriginsofourdiscontents | Posted on 04/Aug/2024 22:51:36
