California Could Become First State To Ban Caste Discrimination

Published Sep 5, 2023 5:41 PM

A screen grab of an Afghan American woman in a black shirt standing at a lectern on a lawn outside the State Capitol Building in Sacramento. She is flanked by two women on her right and one woman on her right. Two of the women hold blue signs that read "Hunger Strike for Civil Rights."

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Topline:

A bill approved this week by the California legislature would ban the discrimination of people based on caste, equating it to discrimination against someone’s ancestry.

Why now: Supporters of Senate Bill 403 say caste discrimination that’s existed across South Asia remains an issue in the U.S. among immigrants. If it is signed into law, California would be the first state to add caste as a protected category. Seattle earlier this year became the first city to outlaw caste discrimination.

What is caste: It’s a social status system that one is born into. Though officially banned in India, the lowest-ranked group, Dalits, say they continue to face bias there — and even after moving to the U.S.

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Why the bill is so controversial: Its critics say that the bill sponsored by Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, creates divisions and unfairly singles out South Asians, with some arguing that caste discrimination is not a problem in the U.S. Wahab says she has received death threats, and is the target of a recall campaign.

Why California: In recent years, caste-based discrimination has been a big topic in Silicon Valley, a large draw for South Asian technology workers. But it’s also been a hot-button issue in Southern California. Cal State last year became the largest university system in the nation to add caste as a protected category, leading to a lawsuit from two Hindu professors, including one from Cal State, Long Beach.

What’s next: The bill cleared its final legislative hurdle when it passed out of the state Senate 31-5 on Tuesday, with the dissenting votes cast by Republicans. It needs the signature of Gov. Gavin Newsom to become law. Some supporters of the bill declared they would be on a hunger strike until Newsom acted on the bill.