MARSEG is a friendly group of neighbors who meet on Google meet 6-7:30 pm every other Thursday to study anti-racist books and consider actions based on what we are learning. We are reading Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson https://www.tatteredcover.com/book/9780593230251 This NEW book is getting lots of rave reviews and even our community’s most seasoned anti-racists will find something to learn here! This week we will be studying Part 3, Wilkerson’s “8 pillars of Caste” and answering the following questions in our discussion:

“Of Caste’s eight pillars, which most surprised or shocked you? How have these pillars changed your understanding of the foundations on which our country was built? ”

Wilkerson’s “8 pillars of Caste” are:

1. Divine will and the laws of nature
2. Heritability
3. Endogamy and control of marriage and mating
4. Purity vs. pollution
5. Occupational hierarchy
6. Dehumanization and stigma
7. Terror of enforcement, cruelty as means of control
8. Inherent superiority vs inherent inferiority

Please don’t hesitate to join us at any time — this is an OPEN group! If you have met with us in the past, please rejoin us. We miss you! If you’ve been thinking of joining us, but haven’t yet, now is a great time to jump in! Here’s the link: https://meet.google.com/coc-cypc-rjw If you haven’t had a chance to read, come anyway and we will start with a brief synopsis.