Opinion Seattle law and caste in America: Stereotyping Indians in the name of social justice

To understand the issue, it’s important to not view the dynamics of our lives in the US via the lens of India — especially since second and third-generation American Hindus are now part of the American milieu and deeply impacted by such laws. Indian Americans are a tiny slice of the US population. Their life struggles and milestones largely revolve around fitting in within the constructs of American life, issues of racism and representation. As per a 2021 survey of Indian Americans by the Carnegie Endowment, over 50 per cent had none to little awareness of “caste” in their networks, while barely 21 per cent considered it a factor in the formation of their social networks. This certainly jives with one of our life experiences (Deepak) in the US where caste has been non-existent, even as I have spent much time mastering Sanskrit, chanting the Vishnu Sahasranama and helping at local temples.

The allegations around caste in the US took off in 2020 with the filing of a lawsuit by California state against technology giant Cisco Systems and two of its managers, alleging they discriminated against a Dalit colleague. Close to three years later, the state has been unable to prove its allegations, yet in a strange subversion of the basic principles of justice (assuming innocence till proven guilty), not only have the media and activists deemed the two individuals guilty, the entire community they come from is also in the dock and facing laws regulating their supposedly bad behaviour. It was the bizarre allegations made by California that inspired Deepak to speak against the fake narrative being constructed around my fellow American Hindus.

There is no proof of systemic caste discrimination in the US, beyond a couple of unproven allegations, since the only survey on the issue has been challenged as flawed and discredited as unscientific by even mainstream research organisations such as the Carnegie Endowment. Seattle City Councilwoman Sara Nelson, who cast the lone dissenting vote, observed that the ordinance was based on a lack of adequate data and could perpetuate anti-Hindu discrimination.

Yet, Seattle councilors voted – mainstreaming these unproven allegations plus a slew of individual anecdotes, some of which border on the comical. Recall the sound byte asking for protection against the “militant vegetarianism of Jains” mentioned earlier. It’s because eating vegetarian food has been presented as evidence of casteism for a few years now, by the very activists manufacturing this issue. Ironically, Seattle prides itself on being very vegetarian-friendly. So this law means an Indian vegetarian now faces the burden to prove they are not doing so to be casteist, unlike vegetarians of other ethnicities.

Another trope now mainstreamed in the West is that caste in India is the equivalent of race in the US. California’s lawsuit against Cisco, infamously positioned Dalits as being “the darkest”, imposing western fault lines of race onto caste. This was personally enraging to me as I wondered what to make of my Dalit family where skin tones span a broad range. Am I now ranked “below” my lighter-hued cousin? Based on this logic, Seattle can ascribe Brahmins from South India a lower “rank” than the fair-skinned jats who currently count as OBCs in seven Indian states. Who knows the possibilities this brave new world will bring us?

But, these are just small examples of the double standards now facing Indian Americans and Hindus in the city. So, if you wonder why groups like the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA) led the opposition against Seattle City Council, it’s because this law itself is inherently discriminatory. US laws protect against discrimination based on race, gender, religion, ancestry, ethnicity, etc. Unlike “caste” which is specific to South Asians, these other categories are equitable and applicable to any and every resident. Once accused of casteism, there seems to be no plausible defence, especially in the court of public opinion, which has an immediate impact on one’s employment prospects, education potential and social approval.

Naturally, the Indian community was alarmed when they heard of this and tried to speak up. We ensured that the Seattle City council received close to 20,000 emails, numerous testimonials, and over 113 diverse organisations signed a letter asking for a “No” vote. This included support from Dalit Bahujan groups, who like Deepak, fought the co-opting of our identity. Yet, the council decided to rush through this hearing without proper due diligence, in a secretive manner, pushing aside all normal procedures. For a city that prides itself on diversity, Seattle sure did its best to silence any diverse voices.

With its infamous vote on February 21, Seattle is on its way to reviving the sort of sweeping discriminatory laws we thought lay behind us. In 1871, the British passed the Criminal Tribes Act, which marked entire communities in India “problematic” simply due to their birth into a certain group and mandated them to be inherently more likely to be criminals. Today’s progressives similarly deem South Asians or Hindus to be inherently more prone to discrimination than other groups. All fair-minded persons need to stand against this type of dangerous stereotyping and discrimination, even it comes cloaked as social justice.

Deepak is a technology worker and a Dalit Hindu living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prasad is a storyteller and communications professional and is on the Board of CoHNA.