<story><title>An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve</title><url>https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/04/ban-caste-discrimination-california-bill-00113817</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>margalabargala</author><text>What&amp;#x27;s mentioned in the article is that as caste is a primarily SE Asian phenomenon, this is a bill that targets SE Asians. People tend not to like being singled out on the basis of their race.&lt;p&gt;Mentioned in the article was one person who tried to address this by banning discrimination &amp;quot;on the basis of ancestry, including caste&amp;quot; which seems to me to be a completely reasonable adjustment.</text></item><item><author>whats_a_quasar</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m legitimately confused about the strength of opposition to the measure. It seems like it should be a small, uncontroversial, update to protected categories. Are people opposing the term &amp;quot;caste&amp;quot; appearing in U.S. law? Is the concern that the law will cause other Americans to judge Indian&amp;#x2F;Nepalese&amp;#x2F;Sri Lankan communities?&lt;p&gt;If anyone here can explain the emotional significance of the bill to someone who is not South Asian, I&amp;#x27;d appreciate it!</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>amluto</author><text>&amp;gt; What&amp;#x27;s mentioned in the article is that as caste is a primarily SE Asian phenomenon, this is a bill that targets SE Asians. People tend not to like being singled out on the basis of their race.&lt;p&gt;That seems weak.&lt;p&gt;One should not (and legally may not) discriminate on the basis of being Indian, which is a South Asian phenomenon.  One should not discriminate on the basis of having Native Hawaiian ancestry, which is a Hawaiian phenomenon.  And one should not discriminate on the basis of how many of someone’s ancestors happen to have been slaves in America, which is an American phenomenon (although there are surely analogues elsewhere).&lt;p&gt;edit: SE -&amp;gt; South.</text></comment>
<story><title>An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve</title><url>https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/04/ban-caste-discrimination-california-bill-00113817</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>margalabargala</author><text>What&amp;#x27;s mentioned in the article is that as caste is a primarily SE Asian phenomenon, this is a bill that targets SE Asians. People tend not to like being singled out on the basis of their race.&lt;p&gt;Mentioned in the article was one person who tried to address this by banning discrimination &amp;quot;on the basis of ancestry, including caste&amp;quot; which seems to me to be a completely reasonable adjustment.</text></item><item><author>whats_a_quasar</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m legitimately confused about the strength of opposition to the measure. It seems like it should be a small, uncontroversial, update to protected categories. Are people opposing the term &amp;quot;caste&amp;quot; appearing in U.S. law? Is the concern that the law will cause other Americans to judge Indian&amp;#x2F;Nepalese&amp;#x2F;Sri Lankan communities?&lt;p&gt;If anyone here can explain the emotional significance of the bill to someone who is not South Asian, I&amp;#x27;d appreciate it!</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ghodith</author><text>&amp;gt; Mentioned in the article was one person who tried to address this by banning discrimination &amp;quot;on the basis of ancestry, including caste&amp;quot; which seems to me to be a completely reasonable adjustment.&lt;p&gt;The bill has already been modified to use that verbiage.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Eventually, Wahab agreed to place caste under “ancestry” rather than list it as a standalone category&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;So it seems that those still opposed to the bill are not satisfied with that amendment.</text></comment>