Written by Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) – Fresno, California, turned the second U.S. metropolis to ban class discrimination after the town council voted unanimously so as to add caste and indigenous origin as new protected courses in its municipal code.
Taking
The motion in opposition to class discrimination has gained some momentum in latest months in North America. Earlier this 12 months, Seattle turned the primary US metropolis to ban class discrimination after a metropolis council vote, and the Toronto college board turned the primary metropolis in Canada to acknowledge the existence of sophistication discrimination in metropolis faculties.
What then
American activists who oppose caste discrimination goal to fight the follow all through america.
The state Meeting in late August and the state Senate in early September handed a invoice geared toward banning caste discrimination in your entire state, with a close to unanimous vote. It is now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
If signed into regulation, it could make California the primary U.S. state to ban class discrimination.
Context
The caste system is among the many oldest types of strict social stratification on this planet. It dates again hundreds of years and provides many privileges to the higher courses however oppresses the decrease courses. The Dalit group is on the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system. Members had been handled as “outcasts.”
India banned caste discrimination greater than 70 years in the past, however a number of research carried out in recent times present that this bias nonetheless exists. One examine discovered that individuals from decrease courses had been underrepresented in higher-paying jobs.
Dalits proceed to face widespread abuse throughout India, the place their makes an attempt at social upward mobility have generally been violently suppressed.
The controversy over the caste system is controversial and intertwined with faith.
Activists opposing caste discrimination say it’s no completely different from different types of discrimination akin to racism and may subsequently be banned.
Opponents of such a transfer in america say that since US legal guidelines already prohibit race discrimination, any such motion is meaningless and solely serves to broadly stigmatize your entire group – principally Hindus and South Asians.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Modifying by Michael Perry)