Caste discrimination is real for South Asians in the US: Survey

Caste discrimination is a reality for South Asian Americans, according to a new survey that looked at over 1,500 people in the community.

The survey was conducted by Equality Lab, a South Asian community organisation which aims to end caste apartheid, Islamophobia and religious intolerance. The report, "Caste in the United States: A Survey of Caste Among South Asian Americans", was published on March 22 and is one of the first documents on caste discrimination in the US. "This is the first comprehensive survey that details the extent to which caste has embedded itself in the United States," said the report.

This report comes months after the debate on California textbooks.

The survey

In 2016, the lab framed a questionnaire with 45 questions and collected responses from more than 1,500 South Asian Americans. The questions were aimed at US immigrants from countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Trinidad/Tobago, Guyana, Fiji, Tanzania, and Kenya, who are of South Asian origin.

Among the respondents, 33% were Brahmins, 24% were Dalits and 18% were Shudras. Kshatriya, Vaishya, Adivasi and Others are 9%, 6%, 1% and 8% respectively.

A vulnerable group

In all, 26 percent of Dalits said they had faced physical assaults based on their caste. Interestingly, no one from other caste groups reported a physical assault. The report said, "This data establishes caste as a dangerous phenomenon with repercussions that take the form of hate crimes."
The report recommended the inclusion of caste and ethnicity in existing hate crime legislation in the US.

According to the report, 52% of Dalits worried about being pushed out of society if their caste identity was known. This trend is very low among upper castes (Brahmin 1% and Kshatriya 5%), while 25% of Shudras feel the same way.

K-12 school students also reported incidents of caste discrimination. Dalit students (41%) faced much more prejudice when compared with respondents from upper castes -- Brahmin (3%) and Kshatriya (2%).

“In the United States, when my child was in second grade, she used to have play dates with an upper caste Hindu kid," said a parent in the report. "Once the kid’s mother had come over to our house and during the course of the conversation, came to know that we follow Buddhism, which is understood to be the religion of Dalits. This was the last time that family interacted with us. The word that my family was Dalit spread like wildfire. My child became secluded from other caste Hindu children."

Sixty-seven percent of Dalits and 12 percent of Shudras reported that they faced unfair treatment at the workplace because of their caste. Discrimination at local businesses is also high for Dalits (22%). Many Dalits said that they faced discrimination at places of worship and were denied leadership positions.

Dalits and Shudras reported that they have been rejected by romantic partners due to their castes. The number of Dalits and Shudras being rejected by a partner is higher than the instances of them rejecting a partner.

Being a victim of caste-based jokes and slurs is high among lower castes -- Dalits (59%) and Shudras (30%).

Sixty-three percent of Brahmins said that they are vegetarian and Vaishyas are second with 45 percent. Interestingly, fewer Dalits (18%) and Shudras (16%) said that they are vegetarians. The report said that most South Asian American events do not provide food options for non-vegetarians.

The report also revealed the caste-wise demographic and economic status of South Asian Americans. Some practical solutions were recommended to end caste discrimination in the community.

This report was authored by Maari Zwick-Maitreyi, Thenmozhi Soundararajan and Natasha Dar. "We hope that the data in this report tells the stories we haven’t always heard in our communities and inspires intentional efforts to create spaces that reject harmful and discriminatory ideologies," said the report. "We hope this report opens new opportunities for dialogue, accountability and most of all, justice in all of our communities."

You can read the report here.