By Kenneth Tiven
Kshama Sawant is a 50-year-old Indian-born economist who is the first socialist elected in a major American city in decades. She is behind the move to include caste in an ordinance relating to race and religion within Seattle that will prohibit caste discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and other arenas and allow caste-oppressed people in the city to lodge complaints of discrimination. This amendment passed 6-1, and was authored and spearheaded by Sawant.
Despite broad support, the ordinance faced opposition by groups, including the Coalition of Hindus of North America, the Hindu American Foundation, and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, who argued that the legislation unfairly singled out Hindus and contributed to harmful misconceptions of them. Some opponents called the ordinance “a reckless, harmful solution to a problem for which we have no data or research.”
So, who is Sawant and what is her agenda? She immigrated to the US to study, she earned a doctorate and taught at colleges in Seattle. She entered political life in 2013 with election to Seattle’s nine-member legislative body. Sawant is in her third term representing District 3, the oldest section of Seattle. She narrowly escaped a recall election vote by 341 votes margin from 41,000 voters. It was considered a win for progressives and a rebuff of big business. Her leadership helped Seattle raise the minimum hourly wage that today is $18.54 an hour—$4 more than the state minimum, which was central to the opposition. That recall attempt was one of the hundreds across the US in the past year resulting from intense political partisanship exacerbated by Covid-19 issues and racial disputes.
Various media profiles of Sawant say she was born in Pune in 1973, grew up, studied, and worked in Mumbai until coming to the USA in 1996. A profile of Sawant published by Al Jazeera regarding the 2013 election said: “She grew up observing the consequences of the caste system and abject poverty—though she was part of a middle-class family from the Brahman caste.” She told the news channel that “such exposure shaped her views and eventual conversion to socialism.”
The Los Angeles Times detailed the vote in the City Council chamber, which erupted into cheers of “Jai Bhim”, a rallying cry adopted by followers of BR Ambedkar, an Indian Dalit rights icon whose given name was Bhimrao. Dalit groups and their supporters say caste discrimination is prevalent in US diaspora communities. It manifests in social alienation and discrimination in housing, education, and the tech sector, where South Asian Americans hold key roles.
Yogesh Mane, a Seattle resident who grew up as a Dalit in India, broke into tears as he heard the Council’s decision. Shobha Swamy, a representative of the Coalition of Hindus of North America, said she was disappointed by the Council deliberations and line of questioning. The group said it had received a show of support from more than 100 organizations. “Due diligence wasn’t done,” said Swamy, who flew in from Atlanta. Sanjay Patel, a tech company owner from the Seattle area, said that he had never felt discriminated against in the US as a lower caste member. The ordinance pained him because it reminded him of a caste identity that he thought had become obsolete. “I fear, with this law, businesses will be afraid to hire South Asians,” he said.
Council woman Sara Nelson was the no-vote. She worried the ordinance would entangle the city in legal battles, to which Sawant responded: “Bring it on. Being fearful of lawsuits was not the way to effect progress or change.” Council member Lisa Herbold questioned opponents’ “logic that the law singles out Hindus and people of Indian descent. That’s like saying gender discrimination laws single out all men,” she said. “And just because we have a small population that is experiencing [caste discrimination], that doesn’t make it any less important.”
CH Srikrishna, a San Francisco Bay Area-based tech worker, said he was worried about the ramifications the ordinance might have for the South Asian community. “I too, want discrimination to end,” he said. “But we need to first determine that widespread discrimination exists.” Srikrishna, who is Hindu, believes the ordinance does target his religion. “When you say it originated 2,000 years ago, that is implicitly blaming Hinduism,” he said. “That bothers me. I feel betrayed.”
Supporters appearing at the Council meeting included dominant and oppressed caste workers, union members, progressive political organizers, Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. “This was a win centuries in the making and it was really the fruition of many years of organizing in Seattle across racial and gender and worker lines,” said Thenmozhi Soundararajan, executive director of the Dalit advocacy organization Equality Labs. “It’s also proof that the South Asian community wants to heal from caste.”
Seattle, one of the nation’s largest tech hubs, is home to major companies that employ large numbers of South Asian immigrants. The giants are Microsoft with 55,000 employees, Amazon with 50,000, and Google with 4,500. Others of varying scale include Redfin, Expedia Group, Getty Images, Outreach, Avalara and dozens of specialized software companies.
With South Asians comprising one of the United States’ fastest-growing immigrant groups, caste bias and discrimination has the potential to become more pervasive in the US. But because caste-oppressed people in the United States are a minority within a minority, those who are not of South Asian origin may not recognize the subtle dynamics at play. Already, the issue is making its way through the legal system: A California state court is set to hear a case from a former Cisco Systems employee who alleged he was discriminated against because of his caste.
—The writer has worked in senior positions at The Washington Post, NBC, ABC and CNN and also consults for several Indian channels