Many people are familiar with the fact that India has historically been a caste society, which segregates certain people from others, and thereby categorizes people into a certain hierarchy that is difficult to break out of. So too, we find that in America, there most definitely is a historical hierarchy, which still stands today, though it has been modified to accommodate the changing demographics of this nation, and is in a lot of respects more accommodating to other creeds and races than it was back then. Still, at the end of the day, America remains a caste society, something of which it does not desire to speak of; yet it exists, persists, and continues to be a bane upon what this nation is supposed to be about, which is opportunity, fairness, justice, liberty, and the freedom to be about one’s business.
The default race of preference in America is quite obviously the white race, so in the absence of characteristics that are unbecoming of what it means to be white, such as their inability to acknowledge that they are entitled to more than their fair share, we find that the privileges of being white are favored in just about any situation of worth. In fact, by virtue of being white, this opens up doors and opportunities that are not so welcoming to others. This also signifies that hereditary traits, such as being born white, provide those with whiteness an inherent advantage over all other races, and thereby the default view is that whiteness is always preferred, because it has distinct advantages which are theirs to own, unless undercut by their own stupidity, crassness, or careless inability to behave like a white person is meant to be seen and known by.
Indeed, to be any other race other than white, as well as to have the wrong creed, or to have the wrong type of name, places that individual at an inherent disadvantage in the American caste society, which doesn’t necessarily mean though that these others are forever seen as no more than a second class citizen, but it does mean that they are situated in American society as being lesser than the favored race, which signifies that to rise above their designated slot in life, is going to take a whole lot of effort, and even with that effort, may not permit them to ever rise into the upper echelons of American society unless essentially permitted to get there, by those who are the well-positioned whites.
To believe that this nation judges its citizens upon the content of their character is belied by the fact that white people are always favored, unless they don’t act the part, because the bottom line is that white people in aggregate have the most wealth, the most positions of power, and in addition the historical precedents that favor them, above all others, for they are the highest possible caste that exists within this society. To believe, somehow, that America is a true melting pot, just isn’t demonstrated by the reality of what is actually occurring, and until such a time as America somehow lives up to its creed of liberty and justice for all, this caste system will continue to distort and to harm the American dream.