Fresno, California, has become the second city in the U.S. to ban caste discrimination, after the City Council voted unanimously on Thursday to incorporate two new protected categories into its municipal code.
Discrimination based on caste or indigeneity is now illegal in the city.
In the midst of a nationwide civil rights movement, led mostly by South Asian Americans who come from caste-oppressed backgrounds, local governments, business and institutions have been contending with the caste question. In February, Seattle became the first U.S. city to explicitly ban caste discrimination, and in California, a bill currently on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk would do the same statewide.
It’s adding an additional class to the protected classes list. It probably didn’t fall under any of the previous classes like race, religious beliefs, or national origins. So technically you could discriminate against them based on caste just like you can discriminate against people under the age of 40.
So I wouldn’t call it pointless especially given that people from regions who face caste discrimination were the ones pushing for the law. It’s not just some cheap PR stunt from a government. It might only affect a very small minority but that’s exactly what these kinds of laws are supposed to do, protect a vulnerable group.
Wow, I was about to write “age is a protected class” and actually read that it only applies to “over 40”. I learned something new today.
Uh… huh. What year did you graduate? Oh 20 years ago? (Hmm if you graduated in your 20s and that was 20 years ago… That would make you over 40) OK thanks. … HR don’t hire them, their education is outdated.
Done.
And if you do that over several hiring position over time you have now shown a pattern of age based discrimination.
Or, (and this is an actual thing) you find out that both people you interviewed had the exact same resume except for their age and were hired by lawyers in a class action lawsuit for age discrimination.
Additionally, Fresno is home to a large Asian-American population, particularly Hmong. Fresno was a primary destination for Hmong immigrants after they fled from Laos following the Vietnam war.
It makes sense to me that Fresno would pass this law, it probably impacts more people than we would care to admit.