Exposing Caste Discrimination in the United States

For more on this event, visit: bit.ly/3kIhkH5
For more on the Berkley Center, visit: berkleycenter.georgetown.edu
November 16, 2020 | Phillip Martin's multi-part series for The World, “Caste Discrimination in the USA,” explores how the caste system has followed many migrants from India, Nepal, and elsewhere in South Asia to the United States. Caste discrimination impacts thousands of people living in North America, who have no legal recourse to address inherent bigotries and harsh realities that define everyday life for Dalits, or "untouchables." This series hones in on grassroots and parliamentary efforts in the United Kingdom and Canada to establish legal protections for South Asian expats, migrants, and descendants who face caste discriminations in the diaspora, and lessons applicable to the United States. This project is led by Phillip Martin, senior investigative reporter for GBH News and a contributing reporter for PRX’s The World (a co-production of GBH, the BBC, and PRX which he helped develop as a senior producer in 1995).
In this conversation, Phillip Martin was joined by Dr. Suraj Yengde, an award-winning scholar and activist from India who was born into a family of Dalits. Yengde is currently a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and an inaugural postdoctoral fellow at the Initiative for Institutional Anti-racism and Accountability (IARA) at Harvard University. The two discussed caste discrimination in India, how one overcomes those hurdles to arrive in the United States, and issues of caste, race, and ethnic discrimination in the United States. The conversation was moderated by Rebecca Shah, principal investigator for the Religion and Economic Empowerment Project (REEP) and senior fellow at the Archbridge Institute.

[@anilbiz8921]

How many Indian men and women especially in USA marry outside their caste boundaries? That's affirmative action..Talk is cheap :-))) FYI I decided long time back that I would marry a women from outside my race. I did. We adopted children from different parts of India and changed our surnames so that we won't be recognised for caste categorisation. That's the fasted and easiest way to accelerate the dismantling of the caste curse which holds India back from taking it's rightful place in history among the other great nations of this world.

[@anilbiz8921]

It's nice to discuss on forums like this- the key is what are we going to do practically?

[@os2958]

Once educated we address the caste problem at an individual level and at a societal level.

[@YenkammaNe]

Why there are No Dalith politicians in Afghanisthan , Pakisthan, Bangladesh ???? Who is uplifting Dalith lives in Afghanisthan , Pakisthan, Bangladesh ?? Indian daliths should raise voices about survival and status of Dalith lives in Afghanisthan , Pakisthan, Bangladesh

[@anilbiz8921]

"Caste vanity makes human beings slaves of the scriptures. It is only the renouncers of caste who attain the sublimest position, above the scope of the scriptures. You have to rise above the caste-differentiations and attain a state beyond the attributes. You must not aspire to be the white-coloured vipra, the blood-red-coloured Kśatriya, the blood-and-black-coloured, i.e., yellow-coloured vaeshya or the dark-coloured shúdra. You have to rise above all these. To attain the state beyond the attributes, you have to meditate on Puruśa( Supreme), reflect on your universality and know your original form. In the beginning, you have to become the white-coloured vipra. Then you will have to shake off the vipra feeling and finally merge into the Cosmic Consciousness which is free from all colours. Daevii hyeśá guńamayii mama Máyá duratyayá; Mámeva ye prapadyante Máyámetáḿ taranti te.(1) “My divine Máyá, the Supreme Máyá or Cosmic Force composed of three attributes - ordinarily it is very difficult to transcend these attributes; however, those who merge themselves in Me or take refuge in Me can transcend Prakrti.” Bhagavad Giitá. Subháśita Saḿgraha Part 1 The Aryans entered India between seven and ten thousand years ago. This was well before the advent of Shiva. The conflict between the pre-Aryan civilization and that of the invading Aryans went on for centuries. Then in the course of time synthesis began to come. This state of synthesis went on for thousands of years and extended up to the Buddhist and Jain ages. The process of give-and-take between the pre-Aryan civilization and the invading Aryan civilization did take place, but not without much bargaining and many a tug-of-war. Of all the defective gifts of the Aryans that the indigenous Indians accepted, one was the system of caste division, which spread hatred between the high and the low. Ráŕh: The Cradle of Civilization

[@YenkammaNe]

✍ list of zihadi organizations ? * 1) Al-Shabab (Africa), 2) Al Murabitun (Africa), 3) Al-Qaeda (Afghanistan), 4) Al-Qaeda (Islamic Maghreb), 5) Al-Qaeda (Indian Subcontinent), 6) Al-Qaeda (Arabian Peninsula), 7) Hamas (Palestine), 8) Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Palestine), 9) Popular Front for the Liberation of (Palestine), 10) Hezbollah (Lebanon), 11) Ansar Al-Sharia-Benghazi (Lebanon), 12) Asbat Al-Ansar (Lebanon), 13) ISIS (Iraq), 14) ISIS (Syria), 15) ISIS (fungus) 16) ISIS (Libya) 17) ISIS (Yemen) 18) ISIS (Algeria), 19) ISIS (Philippines) 20) Jund al-Sham (Afghanistan), written) Maurabitau (Lebanon), 22) Al Abdullah Azam Brigades (Lebanon), 23) Al-Etihad Al-Islamia (Somalia), 24) Al-Harmain Foundation (Saudi Arabia), 25) Ansar-al-Sharia (Morocco), 26) Morocco Mudzadine (Morocco), 27) Salfia Jihadia (Morocco), 28) Boko Haram (Africa), 29) Islamic Movement of (Uzbekistan), 30) Islamic Jihad Union (Uzbekistan), 31) Islamic Jihad Union (Germany), 32) DRW True-Religion (Germany) 33) Fajr Nusantara Movement (Germany) 34) DIK Hildesium (Germany) 35) Jaish-e-Muhammad (Kashmir), 36) Jaish Al-Muhajirin Wal-Ansar (Syria), 37) Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Syria), 38) Jamaat Al Dawa Al Quran (Afghanistan), 39) Jundallah (Iran) 40) Quds Force (Iran) 41) Kata ' ib Hezbollah (Iraq), 42) Al-Etihad Al-Islamia (Somalia), 43) Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Egypt), 44) Jund Al-Sham (Jordan) 45) Fajr Nusantara Movement (Australia) 46) Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (Terror Funding, Worldwide Offices) 47) Taliban (Afghanistan), 48) Taliban (Pakistan), 49) Tehreek-i-Taliban (Pakistan), 50) Army of Islam (Syria), 51) Islamic Movement (Israel) 52) Ansar Al Sharia (Tunisia), 53) Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environment of (Jerusalem), 54) Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (Libya), 55) Movement for Veness and Jihad in (West Africa), 56) Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Palestine) 57) Taweed-Salem (Al-Quds Army) 58) Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (Morrocco), 59) Caucasus Emirates (Russia), 60) Dukhtaran-e-Millat Feminist Islamists (India), 61) Indian Mujahideen (India), 62) Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (India) 63) Ansar Al-Islam (India) 64) Students Islamic Movement of (India), 65) Act Mujahideen (India), 66) Hizbul Mujadeen (India) 67) Lashkar e Islam (India) 68) Jund al-Khilafah (Algeria), 69) Turkistan Islamic Party, 70) Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Egypt), 71) Great Eastern Islamic Raider s' Front (Turkey), 72) Act-ul-Jihad Al-Islami (Pakistan), 73) Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (Pakistan), 74) Lashkar e Toiba (Pakistan) 75) Lashkar e Jhangvi (Pakistan) 76) Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (Pakistan) 77) Jamaat ul-Ehrar (Pakistan), 78) Act-ul-Mujahideen (Pakistan), 79) Jamaat ul-Furqan (Pakistan), 80) Act-ul-Mujahideen (Syria), 81) Ansar Al-Din Front (Syria), 82) Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham (Syria), 83) Jamaah Anshorut Daulah (Syria), 84) Nour Al-Din Al-Zenki Movement (Syria), 85) Liwa Al-Haqq (Syria), 86) Al-Tawheed Brigade (Syria), 87) Jund Al-Aqsa (Syria), 88) Al-Tawheed Brigade (Syria), 89) Yermuk Martiers Brigade (Syria), 90) Khalid Ibn Al-Walid Army (Syria), 91) Hizb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (Afghanistan), 92) Jamaat-ul-Ehrar (Afghanistan) 93) Hizb Ut-Tahrir (Worldwide Caliphate), 94) Hizbul Mujahideen (India), 95) Ansar Allah (Yemen), 96) Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (USA), 97) Jamat Mujahideen (India), 98) Jamah Anshrut Tawheed (Indonesia), 99) Hizbut Tahrir (Indonesia), 100) Fajr Nusantara Movement (Indonesia), 101) Jemah Islamiah (Indonesia), 102) Jemah Islamiah (Philippines), 103) Jemah Islamiah (Singapore), 104) Jemah Islamiah (Thailand), 105) Jemah Islamiah (Malaysia), 106) Ansar Dine (Africa), 107) Osbat Al-Ansar (Palestine), 108) Hizb ul-Tahrir (Group Connecting Islamic Caliphates Across The World Into One World Islamic Caliphates) 109) Army of the Man of the Naqshbandi Order (Iraq) 110) Al Nusra Front (Syria), 111) Al-Badr (Pakistan), 112) Islam 4 UK (UK), 113) Al Ghurba (UK), 114) Call to Submission (UK), 115) Islamic Path (UK), 116) London School of Sharia (UK), 117) Muslims Against Crusades (UK), 118) Need 4 Khilafah (UK), 119) The Sharia Project (UK), 120) The Islamic Dawah Association (UK), 121) The Sawyer Sect (UK), 122) Jamaat ul-Furqan (UK), 123) Minbar Ansar Deen (UK), 124) Al-Muhajiron (UK) (Lee Rigby, London 2017 Members), 125) Islamic Council of Britain (UK) (not to be confused with official Muslim Council of Britain), 126) Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamah (UK), 128) Al-Gama ' a (Egypt), 129) Al-Islamiyya (Egypt), 130) Armed Islamic Man of (Algeria), 131) Salafist Group for Call and Combat (Algeria), 132) Ansaru (Algeria), 133) Ansar-al-Sharia (Libya), 134) Al Ittihad Al Islamia (Somalia), 135) Ansar Al-Sharia (Tunisia), 136) Shabab (Africa), 137) Al-Aqsa Foundation (Germany) 138) Al-Aqsa Martier s' Brigades (Palestine), 139) Abu Sayyaf (Philippines), 140) Aden-Abayan Islamic Army (Yemen), 141) Ajnad Egypt (Egypt), 142) Abu Nidal Organization (Palestine), 143) Jamaah Anshrut Tawheed (Indonesia) * Share the above list *

[@KUD6174]

Situation of Dalits is greatly improving in India. Certainly we are anticipating a equal society. But not for Blacks in USA, so called champion of human rights.

[@anilbiz8921]

"You are possibly aware of the fact that there was a time when people used to bother too much about castes. And in this regard, they displayed terrible intolerance. Caste-discrimination was about to strangle humanism. In many cases this happened. People belonging to the so-called lower strata of society were not really considered human beings. In certain spheres they were treated worse than animals. It was not thought that a food item must be discarded - it is not considered so even now - when a mouse, a mole, a fly or mosquito touched it. But what to speak of it being touched by certain so called lower-caste people … or their entering the kitchen … or their sitting in the kitchen veranda - in certain cases, they were even barred from entering the courtyard of the house. Although it was loudly claimed that everything is the manifestation of Brahma, Sarvaḿ khalvidaḿ Brahma, in reality all kinds of casteism were concealed within the boundaries of religion." - Shri P R Sarkar - Shabda Cayaniká Part 4

[@timothyzakaria7397]

Can someone help me my biological parents gave me away at birth in an illegal way and I'm homeless. I don't have any family

[@cinefile0075]

Hinduism (brahminsm) has started it with jati and Varna. Its written first time in rigveda. Brahmins have made it

[@timothyzakaria7397]

I have hope for Detroit despite the stuff that goes on in the streets but Islam and accepting others differences is progress.

[@globalgopal5500]

Hats off to suraj

[@anilbiz8921]

"The word, “Brátya,” means “fallen”. According to the social code if a Brahmin does not follow the principles worthy of a Brahmin, he/she will fall into the category of the Brátya. Similarly if a Kśatriya or a Vaeshya does not act according to his Varńa (color), he will be categorized as Brátya. The question of being Brátya or fallen does not arise in the case of a shúdra, for all apostates are known as Shudras. Brátya Brahmin, Brátya Kśatriya and Brátya Vaeshya, due to their acts being inconsistent with their respective Varńas, are regarded as meaner than the Shúdras who belong to the Varńáshrama (Institution of social order). Here Brahma has been called Brátya, for He is above all the Saḿskáras or prejudices of this social system, Varńáshrama. No Saḿskára can bind Him. All Saḿskára-bound powers bow to His Glory. The Ajiṋána Bodhinii Tantra also says, - Varńáshramábhimánena shruti dásye bhavennarah; Varńáshramavihiinashca vartate shruti múrdhańi. So long as there are Varńa prejudices (caste-disparity, financial disparity, regional disparity, educational or other disparities) in human beings they can never realize or feel the non-distinctive, incessant flow of the Cosmic Essence, the integral Brahma - never, never can they do so. As long as they keep this caste-vanity as the trademarks, they will keep themselves enslaved to scriptural injunctions, because they regard one or the other Varńa as the chief prop or mainstay of their mind. When a person through this spiritual and mental development or through their merger in the Supreme Being, identifies himself with Brahma who is above the Varńas, they attain a position above scriptural injunctions whereupon to be bereft of Varńa or color is the real Sádhaná. Shrii P R Sarkar -Excerpted from Subháśita Saḿgraha Part 2

[@saratsaratchandran3085]

A country practicing racism and apartheid is nitpicking of Indian cast system, catalogued and institutionalized by the British who had executive power on the country! While they gloat and pontificate of their victory over the termination of ‘Sati’ a sinister practice limited to certain tribal areas of India, they have done nothing to stop cast practices in India! Strange, they not only endorsed it and utilized it to their convenience, by doing so, entrenched the malpractice! India currently is threatening to be a serious power and west with their supremacist ‘God given’ position does not want any Asian challenges coming their way. So, they organize all sort of ‘talk shows’ to defame her! This seems to be one of them! We are not proud of the cast system that prevailed for thousands of years. We acknowledge it. The government of India, the constitution of India and all other institutions have rules to protect lower cast people and by law the cast discriminations are illegal! It is not the Dalits in India who are screaming ‘black life matters’ and ‘I can’t breath’!! Actually the President of India today is a Dalit that you are weeping over! That is the positive discrimination we are offering ! Can you now stop sweeping your race problems under the carpet and stop exporting evangelism to India to entrap the unsuspecting and gullible, propagating their fake salvation theology?!

[@YenkammaNe]

dummy Suraj yengde it was a BRAHMIN , Bindeshwar Pathak who ended manual scavenging in India, the founder of sulabh toilet network complex . ".....He first came to understand the plight of scavengers in 1968 when he joined the Bhangi-Mukti (scavengers’ liberation) Cell". en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bindeshwar_Pathak

[@nsomamaya]

He probably thought he was doing as a brahmin. He was a human being first.

[@MhetreMudita]

@@nsomamaya never mind cyber007, his tone is condescending just as the rest of higher caste towards Dalits. Pity they hide behind nameless handles to show their real mind

[@timothyzakaria7397]

@@nsomamaya I was adopted and I believe my parents are from India but I have had a hard life as a result of my adoption. I was born in the US in my opinion its not good for American people to adopt children who aren't American. If I could go back I would of wished to grow up in Michigan versus the Southern US. I really want to meet Suraj cause I like Black culture and South Asian culture.

[@timothyzakaria7397]

I want to meet Suraj I believe my father is from a low caste in India. I hope to be able to work for Al Jazeera to help improve India

[@hietshmandaliya4004]

Humans are humans why don't they understand...?

[@sunilraut9681]

In india hindu cast system is a four floor building where there is no ladder brahman on top floor Rajput baniyas instep and last the shudras or dalit where on ground

[@trainofthoughts5487]

If you think in US you get exposed to such caste descrimination, then you could have also thought you need not be subservient as well with equal force. You could have faced them with high air mocking at them. I say, it is because people are not ready to face. It is very important to NOT let your mind down, but in reaction start strengthening your mind. Anybody can make you feel degraded if you let them to.

[@samarthvan1789]

Let's discuss reservation too