USA Displays Hinduphobia

The world is in the 21st century but somehow USA is still not there. The Seattle City Council passed councilmember Kshama Sawant’s sponsored resolution to establish “caste” as a protected category under the non-discrimination policy.

This means that “caste” is now acknowledged by the USA city Seattle as discriminatory. While celebrations were marked with the ordinance, one cannot help but feel vindicated. This ordinance is Hinduphobia wrapped up in a platter. It puts the Hindu community under legal scrutiny, at an international level.

Discrimination by the Anti Discriminatory Bill

The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) has maintained the caste discrimination to be wrong in the two decades of its existence. However, singling out the South Asian community and the Hindus through this ordinance is the real discrimination. Ironically this discrimination is disguised as an ordinance for non-discrimination.

According to HAF director Suhag Shukla, “The City of Seattle has voted to treat South Asians so that no other ethnic or racial community is treated under the guise of non-discrimination. It has voted yes to discriminating against ethnic minorities, repeating the ugliness of nativists in the state nearly a century ago.”

The ordinance violates the equal protection granted to every citizen by the USA. It places the Hindus in the discriminatory category by its own vague process.

The state is forbidden from discriminating against persons based on their national origin, religion, or ethnicity. The Foundation’s attorneys argued that the resolution would create a broad, discriminatory, and arbitrary category for Hindus.

Anti Hindu Activism

Niraj Antani, the first Hindu and Indian State Senator of Ohio remarked that the discriminatory ordinance is racist and the state should instead be focusing on protecting the Hindus against discrimination.

The data for singling out the South Asians has been gathered by a very unreliable platform Equality Labs. According to the research, one in every four caste-oppressed persons experienced physical and verbal abuse, and one in every three endured educational discrimination.

This anti Brahmin caste activism group is notoriously famous for its uninformed campaigns against the Hindus.

The Ordinance

The amendment was proposed by two Councilmembers, Kshama Sawant and Lisa Herbold. They felt the need to introduce Section 22 against the so-called caste-based discrimination.

Again discrimination is ripe in this bill as it showed very clearly that the targeted numbers were the Hindus in India. According to Sawant it is an international problem that affects over 250 million people.

Sawant suggested that caste is “often associated with Hinduism and India”, but it “transcends religious and geographic boundaries, with caste-based discrimination showing up in Christian, Muslim, Sikh, and other religious communities” across South Asia, Southeast Asian and African communities, including Japan, the Middle East, Nigeria, Somalia, and Senegal.

The Seattle policy already bans discrimination on the basis of nationality and ancestry, however, the said proposal violates those policies. Sawant is seeking amendment by discriminating against a minority base in the USA based on their origin and ancestry.

The Implementation

The implementation of this discriminatory caste-based law would cost the City $185,000 in the first year and $100,000 every year for the implementation. However, the pertinent question remains on how the individuals will be determined on the basis of caste? Will there be an authority overlooking the same or is it self determined? If the latter then what is the procedure for the same? All the factors are floating in ambiguity!

Conclusion 

Whilst the supporters throng around Sawant with banners, the irony of discrimination is ripe here! The Hindu American Foundation is up in protection of the Hindus against this discrimination and is constantly debunking the nonsense in the ordinance brought out by the Seattle City Council.

Reference

• https://www.opindia.com/2023/02/usa-seattle-council-passes-anti-caste-resolution-singling-out-hindus-for-additional-legal-scrutiny-haf/amp/