The COVID Caste System

A poster alerting people to wear a mask is seen on a 42nd Street subway entrance in New York City, on Aug. 2, 2021. Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Commentary

Caste systems aren’t merely unjust; they are also ugly to behold. Commenting to me once on India’s caste system, when I was a child, my father said, “People in this country still use the word ‘untouchable,’ which is if you think about it a very unlovely term.”