Reflections on our caste system

 Early life

When I moved to Baltimore to study at the University of Maryland Baltimore County I left my car in Arkansas because I couldn’t could afford school and car insurance. I bought a bicycle and rode 10 miles to class – uphill both ways because there was a valley in between. It was not fun in snow and rain.

I also needed a job. Back then with government funding of public universities a person could work and go to school, part time at least, without loans. My job was in downtown Baltimore and this generally required riding two buses. Sometimes after getting downtown I would take a long walk past the Inner Harbor and McCormick spice to save a little money.

I worked as a hemodialysis tech. The job was 10 hour shifts. Four days was a full week, allowing time for school, but requiring early mornings or late evenings. Some days I could borrow a car which made the commute easier.

One of those late evenings a coworker and I were to last ones after cleaning up. She was going for the bus so I offered to drive her home. She lived in a housing complex a short distance out of my way.

When we got there, being the southern gentlemen, I was getting out to walk her to the door. It was a rather long walk across a bright courtyard at night. She was frightened at the suggestion because her skin color was a much darker than mine. She informed me that such an escort could be dangerous for both of us. Not completely understanding the situation I let her out and drove away. Days later it was more clearly explained.

Years later, after I was married to a beautiful and smart woman, we moved from Baltimore to Missouri. We found a nice new house in a subdivision that was just within our price range. The subdivision had an elementary school in walking distance, three swimming pools, tennis courts and such. We were the last young family to move into the cul-de-sac. The neighbors were very nice. Soon after we arrived there was a summer pot luck street party. Exchanging background we found we were the only ones from out of state. The others had moved farther into the suburbs. Most had know each other by way of a cousin or school friend from their old neighborhoods.

At one point several people told us that they had to move because their old neighborhood was “getting a bit dark”. I smiled as my confused brain tried to figure out street lights or something. Later when going to bed I suddenly thought of a different reason. I ask my wife if they might have meant something about race. She called me “an idiot” for taking so long to figure it out.

I’m a 60+ tall thin man with skin towards to lighter end of the range. I grew up in the south and at times lived in a county that did not allow certain people to live there.

We didn’t talk about race relations growing up because we didn’t have different races in our neighborhoods, schools, or churches. Still, if some adult used a particular word to talk about someone else, at least in earshot when I was a kid, others would quickly attack the term as horrible.

I was taught to look out for those who needed help, a lesson I have tried to carry out whenever possible. Over the years, in different schools, different jobs, and different situations I began to learn a little bit about people in difference circumstances. I came to understand my success – a good job, nice house, family – was due to more than just the hard work and sacrifices I and my wife had made.

My first major career

After college I mainly worked as a software engineer in large corporations. Throughout most of my career I was well respected and well paid because I could solve problems and develop simple solutions to difficult complex requirements.  (Later I would be laid off after turning 50 while caring for by dying wife.)

Early in my career as I was moving ahead of my peers I would say, half joking in self deprecation, that because I was left handed and dyslexic I looked at problems differently. I could solve problems that right handed people found difficult because I look at them backwards from the wrong perspective. An accident of birth made me different than most engineers and I used my advantages of birth to stand out.

As I learned more about the accidents of birth I would get into discussions with coworkers. Someone would talk about those lazy people and if people just worked harder and made more sacrifices then anyone could be highly successful. I would call bullshit and say that yes I studied, worked hard and made sacrifices. However, had I been born shorter, fatter, female, or with darker skin then I certainly would not have been as successful. I knew this to be true because I recognized the “luck” I had in some early interviews and promotions. I would add that those with generational wealth had it even easier.

Later, as a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Africa I could say that if hard work and sacrifices guaranteed wealth then every woman I saw in Africa should be a billionaire.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

I reflected on these stories after reading Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wiklerson. It was not an easy book but I learned a lot. I recommend it to people with my background and my age or older. The author presents personal stories and historical perspective on the caste systems of India, the United States, and Nazis Germany.

This book supports a principle that I have long seen – any society or organization that suppresses some of its people will never reach its potential. After a work trip to Saudi Arabia I would use their suppression of women as a reason they are not more developed despite their wealth.

Human beings are the most valuable resource in a country. Skin color is a stupid harmful way of judging people and casting some as inferior. It wastes our resources and limits our greatness. A slave gave the breakthrough for a smallpox plague in Boston in 1721. We don’t even know his real name. What if he had been allowed to develop his potential in Africa?

Our problems, such as confederate battle flags in the Capitol on Jan. 6^th, will continue as a cancer if we are “an idiot” not recognizing our current situation. We can’t change the past but we can change the present. What benefits and breakthroughs, what greatness, are we missing out on when some in our society are not allowed to fully contribute?

Thanks for reading and thanks for your service to make our communities, countries, and world a better place for everyone.

Love always,

John