Seattle becomes the first US city to ban class discrimination

Seattle became the first US city to ban discrimination based on caste after a vote by the city council.

Assembly member Kshama Sawant, who wrote the legislation, said combating caste prejudice is “deeply linked to combating all forms of oppression”.

Defenders of the ban say it is necessary to prevent class prejudice from becoming more prevalent in the United States.

The caste system in India dates back more than 3,000 years and divides Hindu society into rigid hierarchical groups.

The ordinance, passed by Seattle on Tuesday, follows similar bans on class bias that have been imposed on US college campuses in recent years.

“Caste discrimination doesn’t just happen in other countries,” said Sawant, the only Indian American on the Seattle City Council.

“South Asian Americans and other immigrant workers encounter it in their workplaces, including in the technology sector, in Seattle and in cities across the country.”

A socialist, Sawant spoke of growing up in an upper-caste Hindu family in India and witnessing such discrimination.

The measure has been opposed by some American Hindu groups, who argue that the ban is not necessary because US law already prohibits such discrimination.

In an open letter, the Washington, D.C.-based Hindu Federation of America said that while the goals of the law were laudable, it “unfairly singles out and targets an entire community on the basis of their national origin and ancestry for differential treatment.”

They added that Indian Americans make up less than 2% of Washington state’s population, and said there was little evidence of any widespread caste-based discrimination.

Caste discrimination has been outlawed in India since 1948, however, discrimination persists, especially against Dalits, who were once called “untouchables”.

According to the Migration Policy Institute think tank, the United States is the second most popular destination for Indians living abroad.