New bill aims to outlaw caste discrimination in California

California might turn into the primary state within the nation to outlaw caste-based bias, a safeguard folks of South Asian descent say is important to guard them from discrimination in housing, training and the tech sector the place they maintain key roles.

State Sen. Aisha Wahab, the primary Muslim and Afghan American elected to the state legislature, launched the invoice Wednesday. It provides caste — a division of individuals associated to delivery or descent — as a protected class within the state’s anti-discrimination legal guidelines.

These on the lowest strata of the caste system often called Dalits, have been more and more calling for such laws saying they’ve confronted this type of discrimination in the US. However such insurance policies stay divisive.

Wahab stated caste discrimination is “a social justice and civil rights difficulty.”

“Individuals got here to this nation to allow them to be free and might pursue their American dream with none disruption to their lives,” Wahab stated, including that she heard about this type of discrimination rising up in Fremont, California, and dwelling within the San Francisco Bay Space.

However some teams such because the Hindu American Basis and the Coalition of Hindus of North America oppose such insurance policies. They argue these measures will harm a group that already faces hate and discrimination, and can particularly goal Hindus and Indian Individuals who’re generally related to the caste system. The laws is being backed by different teams reminiscent of Hindus for Human Rights and Hindus for Caste Fairness.

A United Nations report in 2016 stated not less than 250 million folks worldwide nonetheless face caste discrimination in Asia, Africa, the Center East and Pacific areas, in addition to in varied diaspora communities. Caste techniques are discovered amongst Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Muslims and Sikhs.

Wahab stated she is “deeply delicate to how minority religions and teams are depicted.”

“Caste goes past faith and nationality,” she stated. “This laws primarily protects tens of millions who dwell in silence and have by no means had such safety as a result of there may be little understanding of this difficulty. This invoice is about defending people who find themselves susceptible.”

In February, Seattle grew to become the primary U.S. metropolis and the primary jurisdiction exterior South Asia so as to add caste to its anti-discrimination legal guidelines. A number of schools and universities have additionally enacted related insurance policies barring caste discrimination on campuses, together with College of California, Davis.

A 2020 survey of Indian Individuals by the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace discovered caste discrimination was reported by 5% of survey respondents. Whereas 53% of foreign-born Hindu Indian Individuals stated they affiliate with a caste group, solely 34% of U.S. born Hindu Indian Individuals stated they do the identical.

Nevertheless, a 2016 Equality Labs survey of 1,500 South Asians within the U.S. confirmed 67% of Dalits who responded reported being handled unfairly due to their caste.

California “has been floor zero for the caste fairness motion,” stated Thenmozhi Soundararajan, founder and govt director of Oakland, California-based Equality Labs, a Dalit advocacy group.

“This laws is about clarifying current protections and making them express,” she stated.

In accordance with a 2021 report by the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Research, Asians, together with South Asians, maintain 37.8% of technical roles and 25.3% of management roles at Silicon Valley’s largest tech corporations.

In 2020, California regulators sued Cisco Techniques saying a Dalit Indian engineer confronted caste discrimination on the firm’s Silicon Valley headquarters. In one other case, Tanuja Gupta, give up her senior supervisor job at Google Information final yr after blowback over inviting Soundararajan to talk to staff throughout April, which is Dalit Historical past Month. The speak was canceled and Gupta accused her former employer of retaliation, which Google has denied.

Gupta stated she is backing the invoice as a result of these going through caste discrimination haven’t any safety or authorized recourse proper now.

“That is the type of accountability we’d like,” she stated. “Individuals are afraid to talk up when they’re discriminated in opposition to as a result of they’re afraid to rock the boat they usually worry they could lose their job or employment visa. It’s a tough cycle to interrupt and you’ll solely do it when somebody is prepared to threat every part.”

Caste is “not a spiritual difficulty, however a civil rights difficulty,” stated Gupta.

Shakeel Syed, govt director of South Asian Community in Artesia, California, stated he sees caste discrimination amongst employees and he has helped in circumstances the place caste performed a task in wage theft and housing discrimination.

“When hardworking individuals are not revered or valued merely due to their caste, that’s simply blatantly mistaken,” he stated.

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