Seattle and its Caste Woes
Seattle and its Caste Woes
Seattle's ordinance banning caste-based discrimination is socialist propaganda
Seattle City Council stirred up chaos in the Indian-American community by banning “caste-based discrimination” in the city, proposed by known anti-India socialist Kshama Sawant. Seattle is the first American city to pass such an ordinance. As the international community pours in and gathers around to make sense of this new ordinance—whether it is good or bad—it is worthwhile to see the context surrounding this ordinance, and understand the source it comes from.
Caste is Described as Inherent to Hinduism and India
In the draft for the amendment to the anti-discrimination laws, “caste” is described as inherent, and “often associated with Hinduism and India”, and mentioned as spreading to other countries and religions. Further, the city council members themselves use anti-Hindu and anti-India verbiage to describe caste, leaning on Ambedkarites to gather momentum for their cause.
This is at odds with the findings of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in which an overwhelming majority of Indian-origin Hindus do not identify with any caste group at all—a whopping 53%. The same survey also finds that almost 50% of the Indian-Americans admit to facing discrimination of some sort—30% reported discrimination due to color of skin, 18% due to gender, 18% due to religion (Hinduism), 16% due to country of origin, and only 5% due to caste. It is noteworthy, that instead of addressing and being sensitive to all the forms of discrimination already faced by Indian Americans, the issue of 5% discrimination is used a tool to further fan all other forms of discrimination! By repeatedly stating that caste is intrinsic to Hinduism & India, this legislation creates a strong bias against Indian-origin Hindus & seeks to creates fissues in a small community of peace-loving people.
U.S. Laws Already Outlaw All Forms of Discrimination
The existing U.S. Laws already outlaw any discrimination based on multiple factors, basis which any case of caste discrimination can be filed. This is from the Seattle City Council Civil Rights Enforcement document:
“Simply, a protected class is a group of people who have a common characteristic and who are legally protected from discrimination on the basis of that characteristic.
Seattle currently includes these protected classes:
Age
Ancestry
Breastfeeding in a public place
Citizenship or immigration status
Color
Creed
Disability
Gender identity
Marital status
National Origin
Parental status
Political ideology
Race
Religion
Sex
Sexual orientation
Use of a Section 8 certificate
Use of a service animal
Military status or Veteran”
“Caste,” proclaimed to be birth-based, falls under the category of “ancestry” and “parental status” in the protected classes. The main content about discrimination due to caste is because it is defined as a birth-based system entrenched in Hinduism by the promoters of the ordinance. In that case, there is no requirement for singling out a micro-minority community and adding “caste” as a protected class since it is redundant and problematic for multiple reasons.
For one, there is absolutely no method to determine someone’s caste! People with the same last name could belong to any number of castes. People within the same caste could possibly have any out of the thousands of possible surnames. Caste certificates are not issued at birth, but can be obtained by anyone at any stage of their life. As such, “caste” then becomes a matter of self-identification, and ceases to be birth-based, for all intents and purposes, au contraire to the contention of Kshama Sawant and her supporters. Since it is not birth-based, anyone can switch from one caste to another at any point of time, and switch from being the oppressed to the oppressor—or vice versa—and game the system. Many complex issues can arise out of this anomaly left unaddressed in the ordinance. The current laws ensure simplicity and ease for filing real discrimination cases.
Incomplete Information Presented by Media
Except for a few blurbs in the American media, majority of the news reports in American media have highlighted the perspective of Kshama Sawant and her comrades alone. The perspectives of the opposing voices has either been entirely suppressed, or twisted and mocked as “pro-discrimination.”
ABC News reports that “Sawant said the council received over 4,000 emails in support of the ordinance.” The fact that more than 30,000 emails were sent to Seattle council members opposing the ordinance does not find a mention in any media report! Further, the same news story mentions,‘“We got the support of over 200 organizations from Seattle and around the country,” she [Thenmozhi Soundararajan] said.’ The news story does not mention that more than 100 US-based organizations sent emails and letters opposing the ordinance as well. They do not highlight that Niraj Antani, an Indian and Hindu state Senator in Ohio, gave an official letter opposing the ordinance.
Many individual voices in the tech sector & STEM have also opposed the ordinance. Since the tech sector is going to be severely impacted by this ordinance, the Indian origin tech founders, academicians, CEOs deserve to be heard as well.
Insufficient Data to Justify the Ordinance
There are no documented, filed cases of “discrimination” or attacks on anyone due to their caste status in the city of Seattle. That is a fact that almost all council members fail to address. In a country like the USA, where the law is taken very seriously, it is ironic that Kshama Sawant & Co claim rampant caste-based-discrimination with no real cases to back up the claim! They cite the report of one Equality Labs from 2018, which is rife with selection bias, and twists data to fit an agenda. People who reported as not facing any discrimination were dropped from the data set. Nobody with even the most elementary knowledge of statistics would claim that the said data and report is representative of all Indian/ Hindu Americans.
Further, for passing an ordinance at the city level, there should be a closer investigation into the data, and reports from other sources, like the report of Carnergi Endownment for International Peace should also be taken into purview. If required, a more detailed, city-level survey must be conducted by third-party researchers and academicians who have no vested interests to poke around with the data. But nothing of the sort was done before passing the ordinance.
A law like this alters people’s lives. It can ruin people’s lives. In this case, it can ruin the public image of an entire micro-community and attach a stigma to them, which sticks on for ages, and takes a long time to wash off. Laws cannot be taken lightly. If a law gets in the way of people’s lives and infringes upon their rights and freedom, rather than protecting their rights and freedom, it fails to serve its purpose. The ordinance that adds “caste” as a protected class is a big character assassination of the Hindu community and Indian-origin community. It does nothing to help protect their rights, and everything to make them a target for further discrimination.