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Several cases have received mainstream attention as advocates demonstrate the extent of the problem and the urgent need for a solution. Across the country, anti-discrimination policies recognize and protect many other categories of disadvantaged minorities, except caste. So I am grateful that Seattle City Council has taken the lead in recognizing caste as a protected category.

This initiative is historic. By passing this ordinance, the Council is affirming to us they understand how caste impacts the over 5. It is important to understand that the addition of caste does not impact other protected categories. Extending protections to oppressed castes does not negate existing protections based on religion, nationality, race, and ancestry.

The argument put forth by opponents of the decision that existing protections suffice in addressing caste-based discrimination, is patently false. While caste may be covered under protected categories, caste-oppressed people want that coverage to be explicit, given the scope and severity of discrimination, and to ensure that institutions invest in building caste competency.

This is not unlike other protected categories like that of sexuality and gender that were expanded to better address the needs of queer and trans people. Adding caste as a protected category does not take away the rights of privileged caste groups any more than gender equality takes away the rights of men. If there are other protected categories that cover religion and national origin, what is the issue with explicitly listing out another category caste for protecting the human rights of people in the city of Seattle?

I have witnessed arguments that adding caste to the protected category is anti-Hindu. This argument is false, and hurtful as I am a practicing Hindu from Nepal. As a Dalit Hindu, such arguments deny my existence and erase my experience. Living in the Bay Area, I experienced caste discrimination in every sphere of my life, including as a restaurant worker, community leader, and student at the University.

Whenever I tried to speak up, I faced pushback and gaslighting. These are dehumanizing experiences and cut across religions. Caste is a social phenomenon that exists in Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, and other religious communities from the subcontinent, and there is a wealth of scholarship documenting this. Ethnicity and religion are already protected categories, and if one feels discriminated on these lines, they are more than welcome to file reports in DEI offices.

But they cannot diminish these very real concerns about equity as a result of their casteist fragility. Moreover, caste-based discrimination is not limited to South Asian communities—caste as a social system of exclusion is present in Japanese, Latin American, and African societies as well, and caste protections will serve these communities. DEI stakeholders must move beyond an India-centric lens and create spaces for these internationalist discussions on caste, to realize how unfounded the backlash to caste equity movements is.

Caste equity policies are a continuation of anti-India and anti-Hindu trends in the West. By arguing that anti-Hindu and anti-India biases are rampant in the education system, caste bigots are hoping to silence prem pariyar biographies samples on caste. They often cite the California Textbook Casewhere Dalit Americans and allies lobbied to include a curriculum on caste in school textbooks.

The aim of education is to take into consideration the needs of society and educate younger generations on traditions, customs, histories, and more. Whitewashing Brahmanical tradition, and the centuries-long history of caste harm will do no good to society, especially newer generations, and will only further the historical trauma of caste. Omitting caste from a textbook and being silent about discrimination is not the answer.

We need to create awareness and allow for discussions about conditions of violence and material inequity to create a safe space and allow for harmony amongst diverse South Asians. Any kind of -ism should not exist in the society for peace and harmony to be upheld, including casteism, and the first step is to educate younger generations about it.

This is similar to the need for making Critical Race Theory part of the curriculum in schools for children. Only in this way will we be able to achieve racial and caste equity. Lastly, we need to dismantle this India-centric conversation around caste because caste-oppressed community members are killed, assaulted, and raped every day in India AND other South Asian countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

But caste discrimination was almost the same. However, we never remained silent. The people from dominant caste groups couldn't tolerate our resilience and the fact that we spoke against them. One day during my absence, a group of 30 to 35 upper caste people came to my house and physically assaulted my family members. That attack stunned all of us.

My father was seriously injured. He had to be kept in a prem pariyar biography samples for more than a month as the abusers who broke our door hit him with it. The trauma still haunts him; he has a sleep disorder. My mother and sister had bruises all over their bodies. Yet when we tried to file a case against the perpetrators for their brutality, police refused to register our complaint.

The violence we faced wasn't taken seriously, and the authorities told us not to take action against our abusers. It was so hard to even register a complaint.

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Still, the perpetrators have never been arrested, and we haven't received justice. For me, that was the breaking point, and with my family's suggestions, inI decided to move to the US. But even if you moved to the US, casteism made its way and affected you. Did it shock you when you found that casteism was rife in the US too? Yes, indeed, I was shocked because I never expected that people living in the US—where conversations around civil rights are taken seriously—still practise casteism.

But over the years, as I have been living in the US for seven years now, I learned that the Nepali diaspora held their casteist beliefs more strongly than those in Nepal. From people refusing to share meals with me to dominant caste group members doubting my integrity, I had to endure a fair share of discrimination in the US. You are one of the key persons whose efforts made it possible to make a policy-level intervention in adding caste as a protected category in the CSU system.

What inspired you to start the advocacy, and how has the overall journey been so far to organise this movement? Even when I moved to the US, I never stopped condemning the casteist social structures. So when I enrolled myself in the graduate programme of social work at CSU inI made sure that people knew about casteism, its relevance in our society and how Dalit people like me face discrimination.

Luckily, I had professors, faculty members and students in my programme in whom I found great allies. They always listened to my stories and made efforts to understand the perils of the caste system. The department even started including caste-related books in its curriculum to make more people understand the seriousness of the caste system.

In Octoberwhen I had organised a virtual session on World Mental Health Day to discuss race and caste during Covid, the chair of our department, Sarah Taylor, announced that from that day onwards, our department would also include caste as a protected category. This acceptance from my department inspired me, and I began my advocacy campaign collaborating with other Dalit students and activists.

Our main goal was to bring policy level intervention into the university system, so the rights against discrimination for Dalit students are protected. During the first phase of our advocacy campaign, we started reaching out to other departments, making them understand why it was essential to protect oppressed caste groups. Fortunately, other departments listened to our concerns, followed the lead and did what was necessary—include caste in their nondiscrimination policy.

And finally, after closely working with Academic Senate's Faculty Diversity and Equity Committee, making the authorities concerned understand why caste is a global issue, on January 1, CSU announced that it would add caste in its protected category. While many have appreciated your advocacy, about 80 teaching faculty members condemned CSU's decision to include caste discrimination in nondiscrimination policy, calling it a wrong move.

Other universities, such as Harvard University, have caste-bias protections in place for graduate-student workers. State Sen. Aisha Wahab, who represents a district that includes parts of Silicon Valley, wrote the legislation. It has proven so contentious, especially among some Indian Americans who say it unfairly targets them, that the first-term Democratic senator is facing threats and a recall effort.

Wahab, who is Afghan American and was the prem pariyar biography samples Muslim elected to the California state senate, told MarketWatch last week that she introduced the bill because of stories many people have told her about being negatively affected at work or hurt in other ways because of their caste. A survey of more than 1, South Asians living in the U.

Four in 10 Dalit students reported experiencing caste discrimination in educational institutions. Why rock the boat? Why risk [political] donors? Groups opposing the bill say existing California laws — the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act — provide enough protection against all types of discrimination.