The outlawing of caste discrimination is especially important to the area’s South Asian population, specifically the Indian and Hindu communities, with India having one of the oldest caste systems worldwide.
“The fight against caste discrimination is deeply connected to the fight against all forms of oppression,” says Kshama Sawant, an Indian American Seattle City Council member. Sawant’s office put forth the proposal to prohibit caste-based discrimination in the city.
“Caste discrimination doesn’t only take place in other countries,” she noted. “It is faced by South Asian American and other immigrant working people in their workplaces, including in the tech sector, in Seattle and in cities around the country.”