In the past, scholars researched the caste system of India and the Jim Crow Caste system in the US, independent of each other. After reviewing both research areas, Wilkerson, investigated their commonalities and found close parallels. In both cases the upper class found a way to strengthen their privilege by creating a bogus caste system based on several made-up human characteristics among whom were religion and race. Religion tended to discourage questioning, and racial characteristics made it easy to classify who belonged to which caste. The result was a very solid system to support upper caste privilege which has survived into present day US.
The US' reputation for equal rights and democracy based on its enlightened declaration of independence, managed to camouflage its caste system which started in the Virginia colony of the 1600's. This system was strenghthened to full force in the agricultural south, survived the defeat of the bloody Civil War in 1865, and morphed itself into the Jim Crow US White Caste system which we find in the present US.
Wilkerson documents how the Nazis, when attempting to construct their Aryan Caste system, had sent their experts to study how the US had managed to create such an effective caste system while successfully claiming to the international community to be a country built on equal rights and freedom.
The US White Caste system survived until the 1964 Civil Rights legislation forced it into hiding for a few decades. It resurfaced more virulent than ever in the surprising results of the election of 2016:
US White Caste vote that gave the victory to Trump.
| White men | 62% |
| White women | 53% |
Below is a summary that illustrates the US White Caste backlash against Democrats after the 1964 Civil Rights Legislation.
Percentage of the white vote obtained by Democratic Presidents after 1964
| 1964 Lyndon Johnson |
1976 Jimmy Carter |
1992 Bill Clinton |
1996 Bill Clinton |
2008 Barack Obama |
2012 Barack Obama |
2020 Joe Biden |
| >50% | 48% | 39% | 44% | 43% | 39% | 41% |