Newsom vetoes bill banning caste discrimination in California, by Lauren Sforza | The Hill

Legislation banning caste discrimination shouldn't surprise us and reflects the growing presence of South Asian Americans in the U.S. "South Asians" emanate from such nation states as India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. I learned recently from an Indian friend who lives in Austin that caste-based prejudice and discrimination often follows South Asians even after they've migrated to other countries despite efforts within their own to promote social equality. 

"It's very painful," she said. "People here will actually ask you what your caste is and this, of course, has implications for how you're seen, whether someone will marry you after they know about this." I could see and feel the pain in her expression and sensed her disappointment in how migration to the U.S. doesn't solve this, but rather, in her case, followed her family into the U.S. It saddened me to think that someone in the U.S. would even ask another that question to begin with. Yet like race, it's understandable that these ways of knowing reinforced by British colonialism and white supremacist ideologies die hard.

Caste-based prejudice and discrimination is clearly an existing social problem within these South Asian cultures that overlaps significantly with—even as it is distinct from—racial discrimination. For a comparison to the U.S., a powerful and provocative book on this is Isabel Wilkerson's (2020) book titled, Caste: The origins of our discontents, that considers how race, like caste, is a deeply ingrained notion that has shaped us as a country. 

Sociology and anthropology has long considered the extent to which our country mirrors more of a class-based society, or one more aptly characterized as one of caste—or in the words of the late Berkeley anthropologist, Dr. John Ogbu, as "caste-like"—inasmuch as a lack of social and economic mobility attaches to entire classes or categories of racial groups, historically.

Just like all forms of racial forms of discrimination, we should all similarly oppose discrimination by caste. Much to ponder here, particularly with the ascendancy of South Asian communities in the U.S.

-Angela Valenzuela

References

Ogbu, J. (1978). Minority Education and Caste: The American System in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Academic Press.

Wilkerson, I. (2020). Caste: The origins of our discontents. Random House.

Newsom vetoes bill banning caste discrimination in California

California Gov. Gavin Newsom sits in the state Assembly at the state Capitol, June 30, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

BY LAUREN SFORZA - 10/08/23 8:04 AM ET

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed a bill Saturday that would ban caste discrimination, saying that the bill is unnecessary because current law already covers it.

“In California, we believe everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, no matter who they are, where they come from, who they love, or where they live,” he said in a letter notifying lawmakers of his veto.

“That is why California already prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other characteristics, and state law specifies that these civil rights protections shall be liberally construed,” he continued. “Because discrimination based on caste is already prohibited under these existing categories, this bill is unnecessary.”

The bill, if signed by the governor, would have added caste as a protected class to California’s current anti-discrimination laws. It largely would have targeted the caste system used in South Asian and Hindu communities and would have made California the first state to explicitly ban discrimination by caste.

Senate Bill 403 defined caste as “an individual’s perceived position in a system of social stratification on the basis of inherited status.” Newsom said that this is already covered in current law, despite the state Assembly the state Senate passing the bill earlier this year. 

The hundreds-year-old caste system divides people based on birth or descent. While caste discrimination has been banned in India for more than 70 years, recent pieces of legislation in the U.S. have pushed it into the spotlight.

Seattle became the first U.S. city to add caste to its anti-discrimination laws earlier this year and Fresno, Calif. became the second last month. Proponents of making caste a protected class say that it will protect those in the lowest division in the caste system from bias in housing, education and technology sectors. 

The Associated Press contributed.

TAGS CASTE GAVIN NEWSOM GAVIN NEWSOM

---

Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.