Even in the U.S. he couldn't escape the label 'untouchable'

[Demovictory9]

SAN FRANCISCO — Prem Pariyar believed he had left caste oppression behind when he moved from Nepal to the United States.

Here, he would no longer be targeted as an “untouchable.”

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“The tech industry has been a bastion of caste bigotry,” said Soundararajan. Her organization heard from scores of tech workers who said co-workers or supervisors discriminated against them because of their caste. “We had 250 complaints,” she said, “and it was every single tech company you could imagine.”

Soundararajan shared screenshots of casteist comments from Blind, an anonymous tech forum. Some writers left crude remarks about Dalits, while others argued there was nothing wrong with the caste system.

One user, VmBW03, wrote:

“How can caste be derogatory? It’s beyond me. Caste is nothing different from surname. It’s like ethnicity. Unless you are not proud of your ethnicity, no need to be ashamed of your caste. I for example am proud to be of a Brahmin background.”

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-07-04/fight-to-add-caste-as-protected-category-in-us

[I_UndergroundPanther]

1. Caste,classism

It's all bigotry.
We share a planet
We are people.

Caste is hurtful in Nepal ,Like classism ,racism,misogyny homophobia and trans phobia hurts people in America.

It is the lie that some people are better ,worth more,more deserving than other people are.

Which is a lie. A terrible lie.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. The Brahmin has no problem with the caste system...

I would like to think this is sarcasm, but you just never know.

[stopdiggin]

4. my first thought too

You just can't be that totally clueless.

On the other hand - our 'western' societies have their unabashed (and completely straight faced) defenders of 'privilege" ... So maybe it is possible after all. However - I suspect a certain casual disdain and an ingrained lack of real empathy is the better explanation

[GulfCoast66]

3. I am always surprised that we expect people moving to the US

To leave their traditions behind, no matter how disgusting. The companies they work for have to snuff this shit out.


I dealt with something similar as a young manager 24 years ago. We started hiring lots of Haitian immigrants who worked for me. I had no idea there was a major and strong class system in Haiti. But there is. Educated French speaking folks are deferred to by uneducated Creole speakers. I found that suddenly without a leader assigning the task the creole speakers were often doing the worst jobs. Not by their actual leaders but by their educated coworkers. Who I later realized were lighter skinned. Who knew? I had to fire a few to cut that shit out. And when I promoted one of the darker skinned creole speakers to a leadership position a few of the educated guys quit. No loss. That guy is now making $34 an hour, owns a house and his kids have a college education. He thanked me last year for some advice I gave him. Use the 401K system and buy a house. Although now in a different area of the company he tracked me down to tell me he had just paid off his home. 10 years early. Free and clear. Several of them listened to me and did the same.

They are great Americans. Several of their kids have joined the service. They others are college grads including several doctors. They love this country. And make it stronger.

[stopdiggin]

5. well said

we have a right to expect companies and organizations operating under our umbrella - take an active roll in enforcing some common values. Doing less is not only lacking in ethics - it's also lacking in citizenship.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. So glad someone is finally bringing this up.

Those clashes with a caste or class system goes further than job experiences felt by people who were born in the untouchable caste system. I don't even belong to a culture that has a caste system, but I share similar features to the culture that does. And there have been a handful of times in my life when I came across people who made the wrong assumptions about the level of authority they thought they had over me. I tend to be receptive to people of all races, but once I get the feeling that someone is making the wrong assumption about my culture, I'm sure to give them a hard Latina glare, just to clear up any confusion.