Seattle becomes 1st US city to ban caste discrimination; ‘Love has won over hate’  

Caste Discrimination: Seattle became the first US city to ban caste discrimination after its local council passed a resolution to add caste to its non-discrimination policy. Seattle City Council approved the resolution, moved by an upper-caste Hindu Kshama Sawant, by six to one vote. The results of the vote could have far-reaching implications on the issue of caste discrimination in the US.

Historic victory of movement

“It's official: our movement has won a historic, first-in-the-nation ban on caste discrimination in Seattle! Now we need to build a movement to spread this victory around the country,” said Sawant, a city council member, soon after the resolution was voted.

Hours ahead of the vote, Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal lent her support to the move.

"Caste discrimination has no place in society anywhere in the world, including here in America. That is why some colleges and universities have banned it on campuses, and workers are fighting for their rights and their dignity in cases involving caste discrimination,” she said.

The brain behind the anti-caste discrimination resolution in Seattle Equality Labs, which has been spearheading a nationwide campaign, said: “Love has won over hate as Seattle has become the first in the nation to ban caste discrimination. We have braved rape threats, death threats, disinformation, and bigotry.”

It has created a coalition of some 200 organisations in support of its efforts over the issue.

“Central to this coalition is a network of more than 30 anti-caste Ambedkarite organisations,” Equality Labs said. Among them are the Ambedkar King Study Circle, Ambedkar International Center, Ambedkarite Buddhist Association of Texas and Boston Study Group.

Hindu American Foundation critical of ban

The Hindu American Foundation, which had campaigned against the resolution, said singling out South Asians and the addition of ‘caste' to the non-discrimination policy violates the very policies it now amends.

“The City of Seattle has voted to treat South Asians (and Southeast Asians and African) in a manner that no other ethnic or racial community is treated under the guise of non-discrimination. It has voted yes to discriminating against ethnic minorities, repeating the ugliness of nativists in the state nearly a century ago,” Suhag Shukla, co-founder and executive director of the Hindu American Foundation said.

In passing this resolution, Seattle is now in violation of the US Constitution's guarantees of equal protection and due process that prohibit the state from treating disparately people on account of their national origin, ethnicity, or religion, and implementing a vague, facially discriminatory and arbitrary category, Shukla said.

“Seattle has taken a dangerous misstep here, institutionalising bias against all residents of Indian and South Asian origin, all in the name of preventing bias,” said HAF managing director Samir Kalra.

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