Reflection of Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste and response to the role and

responsibilities of city planners

Mercedes Stroeve

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson is a book that analyzes the human
hierarchical caste systems of India, Nazi Germany, and the United States. Caste is “a fixed and
embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the
presumed inferiority of other groups.” Wilkerson notes the similarities between these three
nations' caste systems and develops the caste system's eight pillars that break down the hidden
structure that keeps these systems going long after their conception. Roles in government have
played their part in upholding the system. For city and community planners in the United States,
they used tools such as redlining, exclusionary housing policy, eminent domain, and road
networks with explicit intention to suppress castes of people. I examine Wilkerson’s eight pillars
of caste systems, relate these pillars to the policies developed, implemented, and perpetuated by
US city planners, and theorize ways planners can remedy these impacts based on Wilkerson’s
recommendations to dismantle the system.

In the United States, race is the defining factor determining where people stand in the
hierarchical caste system. While race is fluid, the US redefined the term to separate the masses
and better integrate them into the rigid and fixed caste system. Those who migrated from
Northern Europe are not identified by their former region or family origin but rather as a
collective “white”. The same applies to those who were either taken from Africa during the slave
trade or who migrated to the US. They are not seen as South African or Ugandan, but rather they
are all seen as “black”. The term forces American’s into a dualist ideology where they see the
world in black and white, wrong and right, inferior and superior. There is the belief that those at
the top of the caste system, in this case white people, are there as a result of divine will from God
and that the law of nature states people's genetics establish if they are or are not a part of the
superior caste. This foundational belief sets the stage for further inhuman beliefs and structures
to take shape.

A caste system is artificially constructed and upheld by eight pillars. These pillars provide “a
sense of order and means of justification for [...] inequalities that they took to be the laws of
nature.” The most relevant pillars to the US city planning profession are purity versus pollution
and dehumanization and stigma. The purity versus pollution pillar is the “fundamental belief in
the purity of the dominant caste and the fear of pollution from the caste deemed beneath it.” In
the US, the subordinate caste became separated from the dominant caste in every aspect of life.
Some familiar examples include going to different schools, drinking from separate water
fountains, and sitting in separate areas on the bus. This belief brought on policies such as the
separate but equal law, “the formal state sanctuary of isolation and exclusion of one caste to the
other in the United States.” By creating the narrative that members of the subordinate caste are
somehow dirty or polluted, the dominant caste can continue to excuse and perpetuate their
exclusion from society. The dehumanization and stigma pillar is the outcome of the purity versus
pollution pillar. As a result of separation, the subordinate caste was rarely engaged in order to
keep the dominant caste pure and untainted. But when people engage with one another, they find
relatability and are able to build bonds and empathy toward one another. Without engagement,
the dominant caste could emotionally disconnect from the subordinate caste and justify treating
them like they are “outside of the norms of humanity”. This leads to false stereotypes such as the
opinion that the subordinate caste members receive undeserving handouts, are lazy, and have
criminal tendencies.

US city planners have the influential power to determine where you live, if you qualify for or are
limited to home loans, what income opportunities are in your area, and the quality of utilities, air,
schools, and roads in your neighborhood. During the Jim Crow Laws era, planners intentionally
segregated groups of people with the vision of protecting the purity of the dominant caste from
the pollution of the subordinate caste. Redlining was a zoning tool planners used to determine
what areas are considered a smart investment versus a financial risk to mortgage lenders. Many
subordinate caste members lived in one area of the city because surrounding communities had
covenants restricting subordinate caste members from living there. When the subordinate caste
was zoned in a redlining district, mortgage lenders could justify not providing them financial
assistance. This created an enormous wealth gap between castes. This was a way to collect lower
caste people into one area to suppress them from financial opportunities and maintain the caste
system. On top of preventing home loans, planners neglected investment and maintenance in
these communities. This left the communities in poverty with deteriorating homes and
infrastructure. Meanwhile, high-quality investment in education, infrastructure, maintenance, and
business opportunities went towards the dominant caste, giving them another leg up over the
subordinate caste. The state of the subordinate caste community upheld the dehumanization and
stigma narrative. To the dominant caste, it shows that the community was incapable of taking
care of their space and that it was a reflection of their character. In reality, city planners played a
significant role in creating that state of living. What city planners started long ago is still felt
today. We see the same neighborhoods today lacking care and financial opportunity.

US city planners have an obligation to remedy the impacts that continue to harm and suppress
these communities. It is on planners to work with communities on ways to dismantle the caste
system. This effort begins with developing trust and relationships with community members and
leaders. Going at the speed of trust is slow and intentional and cannot happen amid a planning
project with deadlines rushing the process. Planners must be proactive in developing those
relationships early on, going to their community events, having a seat at their table, and simply
listening. Author Isabel Wilkerson recommends radical empathy to those in the dominant caste.
This means “putting in the work to educate oneself and to listen with a humble heart to
understand another's experience from their perspective, not as we imagine we would feel.
Radical empathy is not about you and what you think you would do in a situation you have never
been in and perhaps never will. It is the kindred connection from a place of deep knowing that
opens your spirit to the pain of another as they perceive it.” We are not responsible for what
happened in the past, but we are responsible for the impacts felt today and how we rectify it.