A bill that would make California the first state to ban caste discrimination cleared another hurdle this week when it was unanimously approved by the state Assembly Judiciary Committee, with one crucial revision.
The legislation, SB 403, originally sought to add caste as a new category under the state’s nondiscrimination law, but it now enumerates caste as one protected class under the larger umbrella of “ancestry.”
Opponents of the bill celebrated passage of what they see as a diluted version, but advocates said it was still a win. The legislation mentions and defines caste for the first time in California history, they said, and it’s now one step closer to becoming law.
“There were so many attempts to just kill the bill and remove ‘caste’ entirely,” Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a caste equity activist and founder of the civil rights organization Equality Labs, told NBC News. “For us to preserve it is an amazing win.”
The bill, which passed 9-0 with two abstentions on Wednesday, was passed by the state Senate in May and now moves on to the state Assembly Appropriations Committee. If it passes there, it will go to the Assembly floor and ultimately Gov. Gavin Newsom for signature into law.
The caste system, an inherited social hierarchy in South Asia, has been used for centuries to deny mobility and civil rights to those born into its lower classes. It’s been made illegal in India, but advocates say its effects remain, including violence and exclusion on the subcontinent and in the diaspora.
A growing movement in the U.S. spanning universities, companies and cities has sought to educate the American public on the harms of caste discrimination and pass legislation banning it. Seattle was the first city in the country to do so.
“The process that we’ve built, the many leaders that have come forward, it’s just been an incredible experience,” Soundararajan, who also founded the Californians for Caste Equity Coalition, said.
But a
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