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[-] FrankTheHealer@lemmy.world 19 points 6 months ago

Dallits for those who don't know, are literally 'The untouchables' as in people will use a tissue or gloves to shake hands with them to prevent accidental skin in skin contact.

They are seen as the lowest of the low. Worth noting too that even if someone from this group emigrates to say the US or UK, other Indians may still treat them with this level of disdain. It's ingrained into the culture. There have been some rumblings about Caste-ism being legislated against in several countries. But some people claim this is not fair to Indians since it's so integral to the culture. Some argue that even legislating against Caste-ism is a form of racism. Seems totally insane to me. But I am not Indian so what the fuck do I know.

Either way, this story is fucking despicable.

[-] NevermindNoMind@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

California passed a law banning caste discrimination, but Gov Newsome vetoed it after Indian backlash. Their argument was that by singleing out caste discrimination, your calling attention to an Indian cultural practice that totally doesn't happen anymore (it does, even in the US), and since your bringing negative attention to and falling out an Indian cultural thing doing so is therefore racist/discriminatory. To me this just sounds like white people being against an anti discrimination law because it makes white people look bad because of their past practice of discrimination, and racism totally doesn't exist anymore. Like if race or caste discrimination isn't a problem anymore, then the law does nothing, so what's the big deal?

It bummed me out that the Indian community in CA was so up in arms about that law, as it not only would have protected people, it would have sent a message to the world, and India in particular, that we're firmly against caste discrimination. Especially if the Indian-American community was vocally backing it. It could have done some real good. Also, Newsome is a coward for doing what is politically expedient for his presidential ambitions, rather than doing what's right.

this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2024
227 points (95.6% liked)

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