The caste system is a hierarchal social structure that determines a person’s standing in society at birth. It has roots in Hinduism, but later proliferated to members of other faiths in South Asia. Practicing “untouchability” — or discrimination — against members of the lowest caste in the South Asian order, known as Dalits or “untouchables,” was outlawed in India decades ago. But it remains entrenched in society and similar practices have followed the South Asian diaspora community to the United States and elsewhere.
There are more than 150,000 people from South Asia living in Washington state, with many based in the Greater Seattle area, the city council said.
South Asians have faced discrimination on the basis of caste in workplaces and education institutes, some U.S.-based activists say.
“It is a national problem,” said Thenmozhi Soundararajan, director of Equality Labs, a Dalit civil rights groups in California. She said her organization has surveyed hundreds of workers who said they have experienced “caste slurs in workplaces, bullying and harassment, sexual harassment, demotion to retaliation and even firing.”
The Seattle measure was opposed by the Hindu American Foundation, which said that it was against caste-based discrimination but argued that the measure would single out their community.
