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pollyflorence's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Hate crime, Violence, Slavery, Genocide, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, and Racism
youreawizardjerry's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Physical abuse, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Blood, Bullying, Body horror, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Death, and Death of parent
madradstarchild's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Torture and Racism
Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Islamophobia, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Hate crime, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Genocide, Sexism, and Homophobia
Minor: War, Drug use, Classism, Ableism, Racial slurs, Rape, and Colonisation
thedisabledreader's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Racism, Violence, War, Murder, Hate crime, Slavery, Antisemitism, Police brutality, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Classism
horizonous's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Torture, Racism, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Violence, Antisemitism, and Slavery
Moderate: Suicide, Child abuse, Gun violence, and Police brutality
Minor: Genocide, Rape, and Medical content
f18's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Murder, Sexual harassment, Hate crime, Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Slavery
Moderate: Suicide, War, and Classism
Minor: Mass/school shootings, Rape, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
buttermellow's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Antisemitism, Death, Gore, Murder, Violence, and Slavery
Moderate: Grief, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, and Rape
Minor: Gun violence and Police brutality
shanflan's review against another edition
5.0
Wilkerson's prose along with her incorporation of research, history, and anecdotes cemented the ideas in each chapter.
The unspeakable torture and separations from family that those forced into slavery endured and even the lynchings of the jim crow era seem so far in the past, but to this day the casual disregard for black life is ubiquitous as shown by the thousands of police and vigilante shootings of unarmed black citizens. But it's not only this outward display of hatred/racism that upholds the caste system; just as important are the unconscious biases, the silent compliance of the upper caste and the desire of the upper caste to keep their place as if life is a zero-sum game.
Some of the most striking moments for me:
-The notion that race is really an arbitrary social construct created in America.
- I had no idea how much inspiration the Nazis took from America in the classification and treatment of the lowest caste (noting that "the one-drop rule was too harsh for the Nazis")
-2022 marks the first year that the U.S. will have been an independent nation for as long as slavery lasted on its soil.
-The story of the little boy who wasn't allowed to swim with his baseball team but was eventually allowed to make one lap atop a floating device only after everyone else got out of the pool, reminding him "just don't touch the water"
-That the south still displays statues of confederate leaders who many are proud of rather than ashamed of, and how connected these symbols of slavery are to the notion that the upper caste will do anything to keep their perceived superiority, as shown by the 2016 election.
This was a very challenging read, but I like how Wilkerson ends the novel with a sentiment of hope. As a white person, I know that empathy is no substitute for experience itself, but with privilege comes the responsibility of allyship, and "the moral duty to act when one sees another person treated unfairly".
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Hate crime, and Antisemitism
fromjuliereads's review against another edition
There were anecdotes from the author's own experiences which lended to proving the points outlined. And some of the information provided was interesting, important, difficult, brought forth a lot of thoughts. I especially found it interesting when Wilkerson discussed the Black anthropologists who went to the South, as this was not something I had heard about previously. And I liked having some of the references to things I had studied about or seen in Germany.
The one thing I will say is that sometimes the switches between the three caste systems felt jarring, as it flipped from one to another in a single paragraph or page. I think it could have been laid out more cleanly where it didn't feel like a tangent.
But all in all, definitely a book that should be read widely.
(I'm not adding a rating for non fiction because I never know how to rate them properly.)
Graphic: Antisemitism, Body shaming, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery
Minor: Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, and Xenophobia
Lynchings are discussed, treatments of Dalits in Indiakelseyland's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Hate crime, Police brutality, Genocide, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, and Slavery