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Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson

“No one was white before he/she came to America,” James Baldwin once said.

Here, James Baldwin is reminding us that race is a human invention that had no meaning before people who happened to look different from one another converged onto this land as a hierarchy was forming. He is showing how arbitrary and artificial the concept of race is, that color is a fact but race is a social construct.

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03 Apr 21 · Flag

Lydia

Mr. Baldwin could not be more correct. My mother would always refer to those from the Europe as ethnics. As these Europeans became assimilated into the American culture, they became white.

17 Jun 21 · Flag

Thomas Ray

This is quite telling. Baldwin is finding his way into the American dynamic.

10 May 22 · Flag

Karen

I had a biology teacher in the 70's who taught us that the idea of race has no scientific backing even though is was in our biology text book with a 1969 copyright. This was the first time I understoo…

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