Seattle became the first city in the United States to officially ban caste discrimination. According to the Washington Post, the decision was made by the city council. Caste was included in the law on the prohibition of discrimination along with disability, religious affiliation and sexual orientation.
Seattle City Council member Kshama Savant called the incident a historic event and added that now it is necessary to create a movement "to spread this victory throughout the country." According to Savant, the new law should protect people from discrimination in employment, housing and access to public spaces. At the same time, the Hindu American Foundation opposed it: they said they did not support caste discrimination, but they believe that the adoption of such laws puts the entire Hindu community in a bad light.
Employees of large American companies, which employ many people of Indian origin, have repeatedly complained about the existence of discrimination based on caste prejudice. Tenmoji Sundararajan, head of the California-based organization Equality Labs, which defends the rights of Dalits, told WP about the prevalence of this problem (the group of people occupying the lowest position in the Hindu hierarchy). The organization has received over 250 complaints from people about discrimination based on caste. According to Sundararajan, employees face "workplace harassment, bullying and harassment, sexual harassment, demotion and even dismissal."
In 2020, a discrimination lawsuit against a Dalit engineer was filed against Cisco and two of its former managers. According to WP, the case is still pending. Later that year, 30 Indian-born female engineers working for technology companies including Apple and Google issued a public statement about caste discrimination. According to them, working with Indian managers is "hell on earth."
The caste system has existed in India for several thousand years. It was legally abolished after the country gained independence in the middle of the 20th century, however, caste prejudices have not been eliminated to this day and continue to exist not only in India, but also in Southeast Asian communities around the world.
The UN in a 2016 report pointed out that diverse systems of discrimination based on class origin exist in Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific. At least 250 million people around the world suffer from such discrimination.
