Racism in Australia isn’t a glitch—it’s the system, argues Australia: The Racial Caste System. In his book, Sushil Suresh takes a hard look at the entrenched hierarchies shaping the nation’s identity and public life. Speaking candidly about the book, Suresh dives into the perspectives and motivations that led him to challenge Australia’s multicultural narrative. His reflections reveal a determination to expose the subtle but pervasive ways racial privilege operates under the guise of neutrality.
This conversation offers a deeper understanding of the provocative questions he raises in the book, making it clear why these issues demand attention now.
When asked about his inspiration for writing the book, Suresh reflected on how his own experiences and observations coalesced with existing research. “There is a great deal of research and other writing on race and racism in Australia, the US, and the UK. All this shaped my own views about race, but I felt that race and racism were too omnipresent, too varied, and too fluid for research or journalism to fully capture their everyday manifestations. I wanted to explore these complexities.”
Suresh’s book doesn’t shy away from difficult questions: Are policies on migration and housing truly race-neutral, or do they merely mask racial privilege behind coded language? What role does racial power play in shaping the labour market, suburbs, and education system? These are questions he believes Australians need to grapple with urgently.
“It’s not just about state policy or institutionalised politics, although those certainly need to be critiqued for their racial biases. I started from the position that larger processes in society—like economics, government policy on migration, and investment—are shaped by everyday life. But what isn’t spoken about enough is how racism underpins these larger social phenomena. Racial privilege often masks itself as natural superiority or as the inevitable result of a past that’s long gone. I wanted to challenge these narratives.”
Suresh adopts the term “racial caste system” to describe the social structures he sees as pervasive in Australia, arguing that it offers the most accurate lens through which to examine the intersection of race and power. “Caste implies hierarchy, permanence, and social divisions that seem natural but are in fact deeply constructed. In Australia, racial power and privilege depend on social and economic realities that remain largely unquestioned. We must ask: What role does this caste system play in migration policy or the labour market? What does it say about us that some professions and sectors of the workforce remain so racially homogenous?”
Through the book, Suresh points to everyday examples where racism operates subtly but effectively. “We have coded ways of speaking that enable racism to thrive in public life. Take immigration debates, for example. On the surface, these seem like discussions about economics or social policy, but are they really race-neutral? Or do they veil the racial anxieties around rising levels of diversity? Housing is another great example. The segregation we see in suburbs today isn’t an accident. It’s an organising force in urban life.”
Suresh acknowledges that racism is an uncomfortable topic, one many prefer to avoid. “Racism is a dirty word no one likes to be tainted with. This sensitivity, combined with other social processes, has changed the nature of public life. Racism thrives behind race-neutral ways of speaking and acting, making it harder to challenge or even identify.”
For Suresh, the book is as much about the present as it is about history. He rejects the notion that racism is a relic of a bygone era. “The myth that there are biological races with defined traits—and that the history of racism is dead and gone—is something I wanted to confront head-on. Racism has always shaped the connections between everyday life and larger social processes. I wanted to show how this plays out in contemporary debates about jobs, education, and housing.”
“What does it mean for a person of colour to go to court, to attend school, or to try to find work in a system where racial privilege is so entrenched? These questions are urgent because they go to the heart of what kind of society we want to be”
He is particularly critical of how racial diversity is celebrated in public discourse. “We often see multiculturalism and racial diversity as signs of progress, but this can obscure the ways race and racism continue to structure society. Are workplaces, schools, and neighbourhoods truly reflective of the diversity we see on the streets? If not, why not? These aren’t accidents—they’re the results of a micropolitics of racism that creates inequities in society.”
Suresh’s analysis is as personal as it is political. His writing reflects a deep concern for how these systemic inequalities affect individuals’ everyday lives. “What does it mean for a person of colour to go to court, to attend school, or to try to find work in a system where racial privilege is so entrenched? These questions are urgent because they go to the heart of what kind of society we want to be.”
The book doesn’t claim to offer easy solutions but aims to provoke thought and spark dialogue. “Debates about racism often feel formulaic, partly because they’re so sensitive and partly because they’re shaped by powerful interests that promote their own political goals. This isn’t a matter of good versus bad but of competing narratives about marginality. My hope is that this book challenges readers to think critically about these narratives and their own role in them.”
Available on major online platforms in ebook and paperback, Australia: The Racial Caste System is a timely intervention in the ongoing discourse on race and power. For those willing to engage with its arguments, it offers a sobering reflection on how deeply racism is embedded in Australian society—and a call to question the systems and structures that allow it to persist.
As Suresh puts it, “The racial caste system isn’t an anomaly. It’s the scaffolding of society. And until we confront it, we’ll continue to live with its consequences.”
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