I was born into a Dalit Hindu Arya Samaj family in Uttar Pradesh. As a public health advocate in the U.S., I am committed to freeing myself and all South Asians from the evil that is caste. That is why I am standing with the Coalition of Seattle Indian Americans to oppose caste discrimination in this country. And I am in solidarity with Councilwoman Kshama Sawant as part of the intercaste, interfaith, movement to add caste as a protected category in Seattle.
I experienced significant caste discrimination growing up. I saw caste in every institution. Back home, our family encountered Hindu temples that practiced untouchability, and we felt deep pain when we saw Dalit people lynched, raped, and mutilated every day on the news in India. Caste violence is one reason our family immigrated to the U.S. We hoped to escape the violence, to leave the nightmare of caste behind. Instead, to our horror, we discovered that caste is here too.
It began in university. I went to Cal State Northridge and had to hide my identity as a Dalit. I could not afford to have anything endanger my new American life. I saw how frequently people flaunted their caste identity and privilege; if others learned of my background, I knew I would face recrimination and exclusions. A faculty member at CSUN, Professor Shiva Bajpai, was one of the loudest voices denying caste and used his influence to try to censor caste from U.S. textbooks and diminish the ongoing violence of caste. The irony was that he did all this as the board chair of the Brahman Samaj of North America.
Now a proud working mother I see caste everywhere. It is in my husband’s hospitals where upper-caste physicians denigrate the skills and abilities of Dalit doctors. It is in the parent networks at my daughter’s school.
Now a proud working mother I see caste everywhere. It is in my husband’s hospitals where upper-caste physicians denigrate the skills and abilities of Dalit doctors. It is in the parent networks at my daughter’s school. After seeing the bigotry of the other mothers, I do not want my child to interact with dominant caste Hindu families that are practicing untouchability here.
As a domestic violence advocate working with survivors across the state, I can tell you that caste pervades all our communities and religious institutions. If you don’t believe me, just ask me why so many castes have their own associations: Brahmin Samaj of North America, American Telegu Reddy Catholic Association, Rajput, Association of North America, Kshatriya Association of North America, North American Jat Association. There are too many to count.
Caste is a human rights issue, and we should not let our discomfort talking about caste prevent us from taking the policy measures necessary to protect all our people.
This story was originally published in americankahani.com . Read the full story here