New Delhi: Seattle has become the first city in the United States of America to ban caste discrimination. The local council passed a resolution that outlaws caste discrimination after an Indian-American politician and economist Kshama Sawant moved the council, according to PTI.
The resolution moved by Sawant, an upper-caste Hindu, was approved by the Seattle City Council by six to one vote.
“It's official: our movement has won a historic, first-in-the-nation ban on caste discrimination in Seattle! Now we need to build a movement to spread this victory around the country,” said Sawant, who is also a city council member.
Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal also supported the move and said, "Caste discrimination has no place in society anywhere in the world, including here in America. That is why some colleges and universities have banned it on campuses, and workers are fighting for their rights and their dignity in cases involving caste discrimination.”
The brain behind the Seattle resolution, Equality Labs said, “Love has won over hate as Seattle has become the first in the nation to ban caste discrimination. We have braved rape threats, death threats, disinformation, and bigotry.”
The organisation has been spearheading an anti-caste movement across the country and has created a coalition of some 200 organisations in support of its efforts over the issue including 30 anti-caste Ambedkarite organisations such as Ambedkar King Study Circle, Ambedkar International Center, Ambedkarite Buddhist Association of Texas and Boston Study Group.
However, The Hindu American Foundation has criticised the move saying that singling out South Asians and the addition of ‘caste' to the non-discrimination policy violates the very policies it now amends.
“The City of Seattle has voted to treat South Asians (and Southeast Asians and African) in a manner that no other ethnic or racial community is treated under the guise of non-discrimination. It has voted yes to discriminating against ethnic minorities, repeating the ugliness of nativists in the state nearly a century ago. In passing this resolution, Seattle is now in violation of the US Constitution's guarantees of equal protection and due process that prohibit the state from treating disparately people on account of their national origin, ethnicity, or religion, and implementing a vague, facially discriminatory and arbitrary category,” said Suhag Shukla, co-founder and executive director of the Hindu American Foundation.
Similarly, Madhu T from the Ambedkar-Phule Network of American Dalits and Bahujans said that the rushed decision will only harm South Asians especially Dalits Bahujans.
“It is traumatising to witness that a propaganda which is no less than a war on Dalits, makes this far, with no data, and with a fraudulent survey, while the real Dalit Bahujan voices continue to go unheard," said Madhu T.
Many Indian-Americans fear that codifying caste in public policy will further fuel instances of Hinduphobia in the US.
Over the last three years, ten Hindu temples and five statues, including those of Mahatma Gandhi and Maratha emperor Shivaji, have been vandalised across the US as an intimidation tactic against the Hindu community.
Indian-Americans are the second-largest immigrant group in the US. According to data from the 2018 American Community Survey (ACS), which is conducted by the US Census Bureau, there are 4.2 million people of Indian origin residing in the United States.
India banned caste discrimination in 1948 and enshrined that policy in the Constitution in 1950.