Advocates have lengthy argued that pre-existing federal anti-discrimination legal guidelines don't prolong to caste.
Seattle has grow to be the primary metropolis in the US to explicitly ban discrimination primarily based on caste.
The town council within the capital of Washington state voted on Tuesday night time so as to add caste, a hierarchical social system courting again hundreds of years and practised all through South Asia amongst individuals of all religions, to town’s anti-discrimination legal guidelines.
A number of rights teams supported the measure amid a push for caste discrimination to be explicitly recognised underneath pre-existing state and federal anti-discrimination legal guidelines, in addition to a number of high-profile lawsuits towards employers in industries with massive workforces from the South Asian diaspora.
In the meantime, a number of Hindu American teams have pushed again on the hassle, arguing such measures particularly goal and malign their group, and will discourage corporations from hiring Hindus in influential roles.
Metropolis council member Kshama Sawant, who proposed the ordinance, mentioned throughout Tuesday’s session that the measure doesn't single out one group, however accounts for the way caste discrimination crosses nationwide and spiritual boundaries.
“Our motion has received a historic, first-in-the-nation ban on caste discrimination in Seattle!” she tweeted on Tuesday. “Now we have to construct a motion to unfold this victory across the nation.”
Thenmozhi Soundararajan, govt director of the Oakland, California-based Equality Labs, whose advocacy work together with group companions continues to push caste discrimination legal guidelines ahead, referred to as the council vote “a tradition warfare that has been received”.
It’s official: our motion has WON a historic, first-in-the-nation ban on caste discrimination in Seattle! Now we have to construct a motion to unfold this victory across the nation ✊ pic.twitter.com/1mBJ1W3v6j
— Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) February 22, 2023
A 2016 survey by the group discovered that one in 4 Dalits within the US had confronted verbal or bodily assault and two out of each three mentioned that they had confronted discrimination at work.
“We acquired the help of over 200 organisations from Seattle and across the nation … It’s a robust message that Dalit individuals are not alone,” she mentioned, referring to to the group that falls on the backside of India’s advanced caste hierarchy, beforehand often called the “untouchables”, who've been the topic of discrimination and persecution for many years.
“The South Asian group has united to say we wish to heal from the trauma of caste.”
The Coalition of Hindus of North America, in the meantime, had urged the council to not go the measure, saying there was not sufficient analysis to justify the transfer.
The group has argued the ordinance “advances nothing however bigotry towards the South Asian group through the use of racist, colonial tropes of ‘caste’. Additionally it is surprising to see the blatant singling out of a minority group primarily based on nothing however unsubstantiated claims primarily based on defective knowledge from hate teams.”
Crew CoHNA pushing again towards the bigoted ordinance proposed by @cmkshama. Our Dalit and Bahujan group members additionally standing towards this. We characterize the variety of our group, as proven by our volunteers and leaders. pic.twitter.com/5lHMTjwlnC
— CoHNA (Coalition of Hindus of North America) (@CoHNAOfficial) February 21, 2023
Seattle Council Member Sara Nelson, who solid the lone dissenting vote, agreed with the vocal minority of opponents at Tuesday’s assembly, calling the ordinance “a reckless, dangerous resolution to an issue for which we've got no knowledge or analysis”.
“This might generate extra anti-Hindu discrimination and will dissuade employers from hiring South Asians,” she mentioned. “The group that's being impacted is deeply divided on this situation.”
The problem energised each supporters and opponents, with 300 individuals requesting to talk just about or in individual earlier than the vote. The council heard about half of these audio system earlier than transferring on to deliberations and the vote.
Yogesh Mane, a Seattle resident who grew up as a Dalit in India, broke into tears as he heard the council’s choice.
“I’m emotional as a result of that is the primary time such an ordinance has been handed anyplace on the earth outdoors of South Asia,” he informed The Related Press information company. “It’s a historic second and a strong feeling when the legislation permits us to talk up about issues which might be flawed.”
Landmark. Historic. Monumental. pic.twitter.com/3UXvhjokzG
— Ambedkar Worldwide Heart (AIC) (@ambedkar_center) February 22, 2023
In the meantime, Sanjay Patel, a tech firm proprietor from the Seattle space, informed the AP he by no means felt discriminated towards within the US as a member of a decrease caste and that the ordinance pained him as a result of it reminded him of a caste id, which he thought had grow to be out of date.
“I concern, with this legislation, companies can be afraid to rent South Asians,” he mentioned. “It's going to additionally have an effect on interpersonal relationships if group members begin viewing one another with a caste lens.”
Caste discrimination has been prohibited in India since 1948, a 12 months after the nation’s independence from British rule. Nonetheless, the bias persists, in line with a number of research in recent times, together with one which discovered individuals from decrease castes have been underrepresented in higher-paying jobs.
The US is the second hottest vacation spot for Indians residing overseas, in line with the Migration Coverage Institute, which estimates the US diaspora grew from about 206,000 in 1980 to about 2.7 million in 2021.
The group South Asian Individuals Main Collectively reviews that almost 5.4 million South Asians dwell within the US – up from the three.5 million counted within the 2010 census. Most hint their roots to Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Over the previous three years, a number of US schools and college programs have moved to explicitly prohibit caste discrimination.
In December 2019, Brandeis College close to Boston grew to become the primary US faculty to incorporate caste in its nondiscrimination coverage. The California State College System, Colby School, Brown College and the College of California, Davis have all adopted comparable measures.
Harvard College instituted caste protections for scholar staff in 2021 as a part of its contract with its graduate scholar union.
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