California Legislators Hope to Ban Caste Discrimination in the Workplace

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A bill banning caste-based discrimination in California workplaces is moving through the state legislature after the emergence of several high profile discrimination claims in Silicon Valley’s South Asian community. The claims were brought by Dalits, the most oppressed class in the social hierarchy determined by birth, who say they faced blatant prejudice from coworkers, and were punished when they tried to speak out. Opponents of the bill question the prevalence of caste discrimination in the United States and say the legal focus fuels negative stereotypes of South Asians and Hindus. We’ll talk to the lawmaker who wrote the bill and members of the South Asian community fighting for and against the law. Guests: Aisha Wahab, State Senator, from Hayward, CA Sonia Paul, independent journalist covering caste in the United States; producer, audio documentary for BBC, "The Hidden Caste Codes of Silicon Valley" Prem Pariyar, human relations commissioner, Alameda County Suhag Shukla, executive director and co-founder, Hindu American Foundation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:00.3	From KQED.
1:15.2	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:22.4	A hotly contested bill banning caste-based discrimination in California workplaces is moving through the state legislature. While some contend that caste-based claims would fit underneath more general ancestry protections.
1:28.3	Proponents say that the specific nature of caste discrimination requires explicit protections,
1:34.3	especially in places like Silicon Valley.
1:36.3	Opponents of the bill question the prevalence of caste discrimination in the United States
1:40.3	and say the specific focus is based on and will fuel negative stereotypes of South Asians generally
1:46.2	and Hindus specifically.
1:48.3	We'll talk to the lawmaker who wrote the bill
1:50.0	and members of the South Asian community fighting for and against the law.
1:53.7	That's all coming up next after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal. Good to be back with you live. California bans many types of
2:12.1	discrimination on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, ancestry. So it might seem obvious that if caste is a
2:19.1	category of possible discrimination, then it should be included in the state's legal language.
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