“Caste is not a physical object like a wall of bricks or a line of barbed wire which prevents the Hindus from co-mingling and which has, therefore, to be pulled down. Caste is a notion; it is a state of the mind.” This was the belief of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, one of India’s most notable Dalit leaders and the Father of the Indian Constitution. Given the pervasive nature of caste amongst South Asians, it is not surprising to see its baggage within South Asian immigrants as they journey across the seven seas.
Caste, one of the world’s most intricate and historically rigid social hierarchies, originated in the Rigveda, the oldest sacred book of Hinduism, and divides society into four varnas—Brahmins (scholars and priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (businessmen and industrialists), and Shudras (peasants and artisans)—while a fifth group, historically known as ‘untouchables,’ was assigned the lowest status, forced into menial labor and social exclusion. However, in modern times, they self-identify as Dalits, meaning “broken/oppressed yet resilient.”
Caste discrimination was officially prohibited with the adoption of independent India’s constitution in 1950. However, caste still very much persists both within India and the Indian diaspora. In February 2023, Seattle became the first city in the world outside South Asia to pass a law banning Caste discrimination. The bill’s supporters claimed that caste discrimination is active in the United States in the workplace, the housing sector, and public spaces. Later, in September 2023, Fresno became the second US city to enact a ban on caste discrimination.
These bills were met with fierce opposition from the South Asian community, who remain divided on the issue. Several believe that this proposal unfairly targets Hindus because of the association of the caste system with Hinduism. Further, they add that “existing laws prohibiting discrimination based on religion and ancestry are sufficient, and they point out that caste discrimination was outlawed in India more than 70 years ago, implying that caste discrimination is not an issue anymore.”
Given the sizable population of South Asian international students in US universities and recognizing the role that caste may play for those students belonging to traditionally oppressed communities, several colleges and universities have also moved to prohibit caste discrimination, including Brandeis University, UC Davis, the California State University system, Colby College, and our very own Brown University, which became the first Ivy League institution to adopt this policy in December 2022.
Considering the lengthy timeline of South Asian immigration into the United States, it is natural to question: why now?
For decades, the South Asian diaspora in the United States comprised upper-caste individuals, partly because they had the resources to apply for skilled-worker visas. As time passed, affirmative action policies implemented in India enabled upward economic and social mobility for those from traditionally oppressed backgrounds to attend universities and move abroad.
Caste-based discrimination, something always practically invisible in the mainstream discourse on immigration, however, remains a pervasive issue within immigrant communities. This article will draw on historical and contemporary perspectives to support anti-discrimination policies that address caste and call for a visible and inclusive representation of lower-caste individuals within South Asian communities.
While there is a long history of South Asian migration to the United States, it is interesting to note that most South Asians arrived much later than other immigrant groups from East and Southeast Asia in the United States. One of the key reasons for this was the Hindu belief in “Kala Pani” (Black Water)—the idea that crossing oceans out of the subcontinent resulted in an immediate and irreversible loss of one’s caste. Hence, an upper-caste Hindu who attempted to migrate to distant lands via sea could effectively become a Dalit in status, as he would be excluded from the Varna order. Unsurprisingly, most of the population from South Asia who traveled at that time without fear of sacrilege were the already oppressed lower castes: the Dalits and the non-Hindus like Adivasis, Sikhs, and Muslims. While the oppressed communities usually traveled to escape indentured labor, the first wave of South Asian immigration to the United States was composed mainly of Sikh men between 1897 and 1924. These were farmers and ship-workers from the northern state of Punjab who arrived on the US western coast.
During this time, citizenship was determined by race in the United States. As per the Nationality Act of 1790, only immigrants who were “free white persons” could become citizens. This was the first initial deterrent for Indian migrants. Further, even though the majority of the first immigrants were Sikhs, the American press homogenized the South Asian migrants as all Hindus. This ignorance and oversight began the first wave of homogenization that erased the multiplicity of diversity in the South Asian community, both across and within religious groups. This led to the debilitating Immigration Act of 1917, the first bill to restrict immigrants by imposing literacy tests, creating a new category of inadmissible people, and confining immigration from the Asia-Pacific region. These restrictions gained more ground under the Immigration Act of 1924, which intended to preserve the ideal American homogeneity and stop immigration from “undesirable” nations.
It was in the wake of these racist laws that the first challenges to South Asian exclusion began in the courts. However, these were firmly rooted in caste. Two of the most famous cases here are those brought up by upper-caste immigrants, A.K. Mozumdar and Bhagat Singh Thind. They claimed they passed the “whiteness” test since they identified as high-caste Hindus of pure “Aryan” blood and that these racial origins were something they historically shared with Caucasians. While Mozumdar’s case was found compelling enough to grant him the status of being the first South Asian American who was granted American citizenship, Bhagat Singh Thind’s case was overturned. Despite the failure of the latter case, these two cases elucidate how the upper castes were cognizant of and used their high caste to their advantage in the migration process. The oppressed castes could never make the same claims to the law, and more so, their claims would be shunned by upper castes who were more resourceful and decisive.
It was only with the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act that race and origin-related stipulations were finally removed from citizenship procedures. This resulted in a new wave of immigrants from South Asia who were professionals and students from post-independent India. These South Asian American immigrants were largely upper-caste, upper-class, highly educated, and urban. They sought more significant and better jobs and took advantage of the American call for professional migrants.
Given post-independence India’s firm stance towards affirmative action programs for the historically disadvantaged in the country, a small group of Dalit and other caste-oppressed migrants became the first pioneers for their community. However, their number stayed relatively low compared to the upper castes, and they found themselves in immigration networks that were heavily casteist since upper castes carried with them their exclusive views about caste. Most Dalits hid their identity or stayed away from South Asian communities altogether. At the same time, many South Asian immigrant civic and political institutions were being created by the caste Hindus as the number of South Asians increased in the United States. They established their higher-class culture as the norm for all South Asian immigrants. The culture, stories, perspectives, and interests of caste-oppressed communities were sidelined. The foundation for the current structural caste discrimination in the country was put in place with the homogenization of the “Hindu experience.”
This is closely tied with the model minority ideal. Created by upper-caste Indians with help from white Americans who first coined the term for Japanese immigrants, this ideal suffocates other modes of existence. It enables South Asians to deny the existence of caste-based distinctions after migration. The upper-caste immigrants were, by and large, more suited to meet the demands of the American economy for skilled labor, and they formed a diaspora that was distinctly privileged in terms of education and social capital.
Today, the legacy of caste is still evident in the Indian-American community. According to recent data, Indian Americans are among the most educated and economically successful ethnic groups in the United States, with 81 percent holding at least a bachelor’s degree and a median household income of $166,200, more than double the national average. The community is exceptionally well represented in science, technology, engineering, and medical professions, key areas for skilled worker visas like the H1-B. Many foreign-born Indian Americans from upper-caste backgrounds propagate the “model minority” myth further, emphasizing their success as the product of hard work and merit. Yet, this view dismisses the privilege they had to begin with and the role of caste in their experiences, ultimately advocating for a harmful color-blind approach to American identity.
Despite the invisibility of caste discrimination in the mainstream discourse, evidence from surveys, such as the 2018 study by Equality Labs, shows that caste-based discrimination is a present and real issue for many South Asian Americans. Twenty-five percent of Dalit respondents said they had faced verbal or physical assault based on their caste, one in three Dalit students reported being discriminated against during their education, two out of three Dalits surveyed reported being unfairly treated at their workplace, almost 60 percent of Dalits reported experiencing caste-based derogatory jokes or comments, in addition to more harrowing statistics. Given the relatively small sample size of 1200, these results cannot be generalized, but they reveal the presence of caste discrimination in the United States.
In the land of the free, where a large faction of the population theoretically champions diversity and inclusion, it is vital to acknowledge the entrenched inequalities within immigrant communities, especially the caste system. Integrating caste awareness into educational curricula, workplace diversity initiatives, and social justice frameworks becomes imperative. Following the lead of California and its changes to include caste while representing India and South Asia, schools and universities should include the study of caste in their curriculum, especially in states with a higher population of immigrants.
Until we shed light on the persistent shadow of caste in every corner of our society, whether in South Asia or the United States, equality will continue to remain a distant dream, not only for Dalits but for everyone who lives under this pretense of a unified, “empowered” identity.