Seattle has become the first US city to enact a law against discrimination based on the Hindu caste system, in a measure welcomed by Ambedkerite organisations that have been seeking protection against rising cases of victimisation of Dalits by their Indian compatriots from dominant castes.

The Seattle City Council voted to pass an ordinance to include caste in its non-discrimination policy, acting on an ordinance tabled by Indian-American member Kshama Sawant last month. The ordinance was passed after several rounds of public consultations and discussions within the council.

The ordinance is the first official recognition by a city government in the US of the oppressive Hindu caste system spreading its tentacles in America. Ambedkarite associations said the move by Seattle in Washington would help the outfits and also victims of caste discrimination in their campaign to get other cities and provinces to bring similar laws against such bias.

The ordinance has included caste as a form of discrimination along with race, colour, gender, ethnicity and country of origin.

The law will prohibit organisations and businesses from discriminating on the basis of caste in hirings, tenure, promotions, workplace conditions and wages. It will check discrimination in public accommodations such as hotels, public transportation, retail establishments and restaurants and rental housing leases, Sawant had said while introducing the ordinance.

“It’s official: our movement has won a historic, first-in-thenation ban on caste discrimination in Seattle! Now we need to build a movement to spread this victory around the country,” Sawant said soon after the resolution was voted. Over 167,000 people from South Asia live in Washington province, with the largest concentration in the Greater Seattle area.

In 2016 a survey by Equality Labs, a civil rights organisation in the US, had found that one in four Dalits surveyed faced physical and verbal assault and one in three faced education discrimination, and two in three faced workplace discrimination.

Anil Wagde, an Indian information technology worker in Atlanta and a member of the Ambedkar International Centre (AIC), said the passage of the ordinance was a small but significant step. He said caste-based harassment was a regular affair at offices since many Dalit graduates have been joining the workforce in the US in recent years.

In 2020, a Dalit employee of the IT firm Cisco in California was harassed and transferred from a project by his senior, a forward caste person, allegedly because of his caste background.

His complaint to the human resource department about caste-based discrimination did not yield any result as the company did not recognise caste as a factor for harassment.

The employee had to move the California civil rights department against caste-based victimisation.

“Now in Seattle, if any worker is harassed because of his caste, he can seek justice within the organisation. The organisations will take measures to sensitise its employees about caste-based discrimination. This is a small step but a significant achievement in securing social justice,” Wagde said.

He said the AIC actively pursued the case with the city council. Rights groups such as the AIC, Coalition of Seattle Indian-Americans, Ambedkar King Study Circle, Ambedkar Association of North America and Equality Labs will seek similar laws in other states and cities, Wagde said.

In a statement, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a Dalit rights activist and the executive director of Equality Labs, said about 200 organisations had fought for the law in Seattle.

“We have braved rape threats, death threats, disinformation and bigotry. Thank you to the 200 organisations who stood with us! Thank you to the 30 caste-oppressed civil rights organisations who spoke truth to power!.... We are united as a South Asian American community in our commitment to heal from caste. First Seattle, now the nation!” she said.

Harvard, Brown, California State University and Brandeis University in the US have already included caste in their non-discriminatory policy.

In February 2020, Sawant had introduced a resolution in the Seattle City Council to urge the Indian government to repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act and stop the proposed implementation of the National Register for Citizens (NRC), arguing they would discriminate against minorities.

The resolution had been passed.