Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system

Affirmative action is already very controversial in the United States and is probably couple of supreme court cases away from being gutted. At least in academia. There isn't going be any action for a group of people that represents less than 2% of the total U.S population. If anything, this is probably an issue for states to decide. You'd need a sizable lobby to influence such an action.

You can't find somebody's caste from knowing where they're from. But last names generally are associated with their caste.

For this reason, my state got rid of surnames ~50 years ago. It sure is inconvenient in some places: I have to explain that I don't have a last name and that they're calling me by my father's first name. But given the pros, I don't know why the other states haven't followed suit

California didn't reject Prop 16 because of a consensus against this form of progressiveness, they rejected it because people read the implementation of Prop 16 and saw it was flawed. California has enacted a great number of "feel good" things that screwed everyone, voters are being more discerning.

As someone born and raised in India, things like this were a bit "distant" from me when I was in school (it came up but I was never a victim).

But the more I got to know Indians who were more privileged than I have been, the pattern started to clearly emerge. I distinctly remember thinking - "people who are better educated than I am tend to be richer or from an upper caste background, usually both".

I try to not let it get to me - I'm in a more "esoteric" position as I'm neither one of the privileged castes nor the downtrodden. My last name is still a dead giveaway to people who know. And I wonder how many opportunities I've missed because I've never been part of these subgroups (any subgroups really). I'm lucky enough that I have friends and a partner who recognise their historical privilege very well.

It's why diversity is important. I love working with my Dutch, Indian, German, Turkish, Chinese, American, Brazilian etc... colleagues. When I'm in a diverse group, those feelings tend to fade away - because I know there isn't a large group that I might need to be closely aligned with.

Of course, living in another country (not USA), the higher up I look at management, the less diversity I see. Same problem in a different form, I suppose. :)

All of the above is just an individual experience. But data seems to confirm it.

Affirmative action in India is multi-fold. One, there is punishment for insult/discrimination based on caste (in public view, as per law). The law is very powerful, feared and sometimes misused. Two, there is a quota system in education and jobs, for some castes in the society. Three, once in a job that comes under affirmative action category, there is further affirmative action to move the person up through the ranks.

Now, the resentments on this affirmative action (Ambedkar, who is highlighted in the passage, originally wrote that the AA will be for a period of 5 years, but has since been used as a vote bank tool) are plenty and some, IMV, are justified.

One is that the current and previous generations, have seen very limited caste discriminations. Sure, events happen in a country as big and varied as India, but generally, caste based discriminations have been subdued, and mostly pushed back to silent and invisible forms (social interactions, marriages, friendships, etc). The current and previous generation kids, have hardly seen any caste based discrimination due to various reasons. It also helps that a section of political leaders are from the backward and other castes.

What this brings about is the feeling of unfair punishment. A kid who is in high school now, who has friends from all walks of life, of many castes and religions (In my schooling, with high school ending in 2003, I never once bothered about caste and religion, as it was never a point of discussion) will write an exam for bagging a seat in a good college or university. Then he will discover, that the same friend who has been with him for all these years, has a similar lifestyle as him, goes everywhere he goes, does everything he does, is eligible for a seat with a lower cut-off score, buoyed by additional mandatory allotment of seats.

From the perspective of the kid, he works hard and sincerely, only to be snubbed because his forefathers have insulted some castes in their days.

What would you tell him?

Two, the benefits of AA have not percolated throughout the society. Those who have benefitted from the initial steps, have risen to wealth and power, and continue to get the benefits, while those who really need help, often do not get it.

Also, after 200 years of British occupation, India was left penniless. Couple that with decades of socialist policies, wealth generation was low and slow. This results in a huge section of population being poor. And this includes all castes and creeds.

I often see negative and insulting remarks on Brahmins (considered the "highest" caste), and often they are blamed for all evils of caste discrimination (whereas, discrimination has been in the society from all sections and even within castes). However, presently, a majority of brahmins are poor or middle class.

In this scenario, the only escape those who do not belong to the AA castes, is to move abroad in search of better opportunities.

All this caste based drama in SV and elsewhere is the result of that feeling of unfair punishment.