In another significant moment for the movement against caste discrimination in the United States, a Bill to make caste discrimination illegal was passed by the California State Assembly on Monday, August 28, with 50 votes in its favour and only three against it. It was earlier passed by the state’s Senate in May this year. With its passage in the state Assembly, California will become the first US state to ban caste discrimination. The legislation will add caste as a protected category under ‘ancestry’ in California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, Education, and Housing codes.
It’s huge issue in Silicon Valley, where S. Asians make up a large fraction of the workforce. Even 2nd and later generation immigrants are affected by caste discrimination, when their co-workers or bosses learn that their families came from low caste background.
Its a problem wherever Indians have migrated to, because they’ve carried the practices of their discriminatory caste system with them.