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An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve

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Re: An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

White supremacy is not protected speech.

> there is effectively no "hate speech" exception to the free speech rights protected by the First Amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_in_the_United_Stat...

Yes, but that does not mean al speech is permitted in the workplace. A company that permits employees to display neonazi posters will not last very long.

You can be an open racist or you can collect a paycheck but you can't do both.

Re: An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve

#192

> she received pushback even from fellow progressive Democrats. Newsom’s office would not say whether he supports the bill. > In mid-July, about 250 people gathered at an events center in Fremont, an East Bay suburb in Wahab’s district, for “Caste Con,” a full day of programming against the bill… Fremont Mayor Lily Mei, who lost to Wahab in last year’s race for the local state Senate seat, was given a standing ovatio…

I thought SE Asian referred to Laos Cambodia Vietnam Myanmar and Indonesia? Now it also refers to India?

My understanding is that Indians are South Asians and SEA refers to what was once known as Indochina.

Re: An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve

#193

If I have to count the number of times someone senior to me or some colleague has judged me or severed ties with me because of my caste, it will be 8-10. All in the United States. If anything it’s far worse here than when I grew up in India. I’m not of the “lowest caste” as it’s perceived but by looks I am often mistaken to be a Brahmin, one of the highest ones. So my fellow Brahmins get offended when I’m not strictl…

I don’t know a lot about this subject and am definitely open to my perception being wrong, but reading about the opposition to this makes we wonder whether it’s akin to the south during the civil war—“we want to secede because of injustices against us, totally not because we want to keep slavery”.

That's more retroactive. The confederates didn't have any shame about their motivations when they seceded.

Re: An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve

#194
post #171

If I have to count the number of times someone senior to me or some colleague has judged me or severed ties with me because of my caste, it will be 8-10. All in the United States. If anything it’s far worse here than when I grew up in India. I’m not of the “lowest caste” as it’s perceived but by looks I am often mistaken to be a Brahmin, one of the highest ones. So my fellow Brahmins get offended when I’m not strictl…

Did you ever analyze if this was purely due to your caste or if it was due to you being perceived (real or not I don’t know) as someone who is from the reserved category and hence benefited from reservation in college admission. I don’t give a shit about caste, never have, and for most part can’t tell based on last names, but I’ll be honest that even after decades I still feel a little raw about reservation. And ther…

As mentioned, I’m only slightly lower than the uppermost caste, so I’m not in any extreme reservation category. And I didn’t use reservation either.

None of that matters since many of these incidents happen within 15 minutes of the first meeting. Roughly around when they start to realize and ask, “oh, you’re not Brahmin?”

Importantly, this question sounds more like trying to find a reason why casteism is justified tbh.

Re: An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, it seems that they are very closely related.

They're not. Most protected classes are things like "race" or "marital status" - not "black" or "married". (Age is an exception here, at least federally: young people are not protected.)

That's usually what the literal interpretation of the law would be. However, the courts have set the precedence so that it is more or less legal to consider race to increase "diversity". For example, see Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. [1]

With the recent SCOTUS ruling, things have changed a little bit. Unfortunately, that really doesn't prevent people from finding ways to get around the ruling. [2]

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regents_of_the_University_of_C...

[2]: https://www.wsj.com/articles/thomas-jefferson-high-school-fo...

Re: An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve

#196
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have an opinion on caste discrimination itself. I have a good friend who is Brahmin and doesn't really care about caste I think so I know some things about it. But that person is not religious. Religious Hindus may have stronger preferences where caste seems like it is a part of the religion. For example, my understanding is Hindu priests are generally Brahmin. Although some sects disagree that priests need t…

What does banning caste based discrimination with affirmative action?

The article mentions adding caste to protected status. Protected Status has a specific set of meanings and implications in the US that came from US history, not Indian history.

If Indians want protections then I think the law should be more nuanced to prevent absurdities like arguing that caste should be included in things like American DEI policies. I draw the line at that point. I don't want the lack of nuance to cause caste to be equated with things like the history of racial discrimination in the US. There is nothing systemic in the US about caste discrimination so the US itself is not at fault and neither are most Americans.

Further, there is a history of Indian affirmative action policies which include quotas and I think Indians should not expect to have the same treatment under the law as there because quotas have been struck down in court.

Re: An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve

#197

I'm legitimately confused about the strength of opposition to the measure. It seems like it should be a small, uncontroversial, update to protected categories. Are people opposing the term "caste" appearing in U.S. law? Is the concern that the law will cause other Americans to judge Indian/Nepalese/Sri Lankan communities? If anyone here can explain the emotional significance of the bill to someone who is not South As…

I am an Indian who oppose this bill, because of multiple reasons. A good amount of Indian population here in America is form a Hindu background. And the majority of that population doesn't really believe in a caste system. I have never ever ill intentionally asked anyone their caste. But the way the bill is worded, It implies that anyone in my lineage can be sued based on my perceived caste (based on allegations of c…

"But the way the bill is worded, It implies that anyone in my lineage can be sued based on my perceived caste (based on allegations of course) that is inherited to me against my will."

Not a legal expert but this is extremely far fetched. You must have a great deal of contempt for the US legal system if you think this.

Re: An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve

#198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Half of it came during my academic phase though!

Do you mean in India? If you don't mind can you tell me what years those were? I just want to see if I happen to live in a bubble or it was a different time (as in, sufficiently long ago for me to not see it).

The academic phase was during my PhD between 2009 and 2017 in Texas. Upper Caste Hindu professors (2) and fellow grad students and postdocs (2). The professors thankfully weren’t my advisors, but made it their business to pester every Indian student during poster presentations if they found they were not upper caste or weren’t behaving as one (by eating or dating habits).

Re: An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just staying in unoccupied summer homes of rich white friends. Class divide is not caste divide. Imagine if you went to the market, and you touched someone, and immediately, their parents/people around them flicked drops of water at them to purify them because they got touched by an untouchable. Do you experience THAT in the US? Do you know how humiliating that is? You're being absurd at equating the two.

It’s actually worse. Why are we focusing on caste, which is very isolated, when class divide and class discrimination is a much worse problem. Probably because the upper class who would be adversely affected by any efforts to fix it are the ones in control of driving the agenda. We’re too focused on idealistic feel good politics and not focused enough issues that are affecting most of the nation

So are you advocating banning people from having too many friends? Owning summer houses?

I'm just trying to understood how do you think that could work (besides from abolishing capitalism).

This is only partially sarcasm, I do certainly thing that growing inequality is one of the biggest issues today.

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