California caste bill could have global ripples | Hacker News Reader

California caste bill could have global ripples

sfchronicle.com

25 pointshyggetrold9 comments

Great win for these guys!

Why all the opposition from other Indian orgs? I don't get it.

If it levels the playing field for everyone and allows for protectionism then why are you against it?

Why is there this deafening silence and apathy by the rest of the social justice movement?

Because Indians are the wealthiest racial group in the country. Democrats like to target poor minorities with their virtue-signalling programs because it's cheaper to buy their votes.

Edit: Sorry. Dems good! Pandering to minorities is good! How else will they know who to vote for?

The bill is opposed by the Hindu American Foundation. They give their rationale for opposing the bill in:

https://www.hinduamerican.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/HAF...

They state:

"We share the admirable goals of protecting civil rights and eliminating all forms of prejudice and discrimination, including based on caste. As such, the question is not whether we deal with allegations of caste discrimination, but how. If and when caste discrimination allegations emerge, they should be adjudicated under the existing protected class of ancestry, just as the state of California did in California Department of Fair Employment Housing v. Cisco Systems, Inc."

They state in https://www.hinduamerican.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Cas...

"All of these measures can be traced back to allegations being made by a for-profit, activist entity called Equality Labs which stands to profit from its caste competency training services."

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I'm inclined to agree with them that caste discrimination is probably already illegal on the basis of ancestry.

(Unfortunately laws themselves don't eliminate prejudice.)

I don't think limiting to existing "ancestry" category does the issue justice. Subtly being asked family surnames, dietary choices, etc might not be seen under current laws as the beginning stages of discrimination. Caste needs to be called out plain and simple as an unwelcome cultural practice in California (and eventually American) culture and one that is illegal to make any workplace decisions on. This makes California an increasingly attractive place to work and live and serves as a beacon for other countries around the world to implement the same policies.

It'd be nice if a nonprofit would take on the education piece, though.

The main opposition is from the Hindu American Foundation, which has strong links to the Hindutva party governing India, (the BJP), which is affiliated to RSS, the extremist paramilitary Hindutva organization. You can probably understand why Hindu supremacist organizations would want to downplay or deny the negative effects of caste.

I doubt that. The Indian constitution has far stronger anti-caste discrimination provisions than Cali. The BJP has never tried to remove those, so why would they want to do anything here?

Bigotry towards other Indians is unfortunately a common and global thing among Indian diaspora. So is nepotism. Many organizations and Indians in powerful positions have benefited from both.

Would you support a bill banning Jewish blood rituals?

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