The Indian Panorama

Tag: Kshama Sawant

  • Indian American Kshama Sawant, who got law passed against caste discrimination in US, denied Indian visa

    Indian American Kshama Sawant, who got law passed against caste discrimination in US, denied Indian visa

    SEATTLE (TIP): Kshama Sawant, an Indian-origin Seattle City Council member, has alleged that she was denied the Indian visa to visit her ailing mother. She claimed to be on a “visa reject” list for having passed a law in Washington state to end caste discrimination.

    This is her third visa rejection in the past year.

    Facing rejection, Sawant and members of her organization, ‘Workers Strike Back’, staged a sit-in protest at the Indian Consulate in Seattle, calling it “peaceful civil disobedience”.

    Indian Consulate officials called the local police. Sawant posted on X, “My husband & I are in the Seattle Indian Consulate. They granted him an emergency visa for my mother being very sick, but rejected mine, literally saying my name is on a ‘reject list’.”

    She added, “They are refusing to give an explanation. We’re refusing to leave. They’re threatening to call the police on us.”

    The Indian Consulate in Seattle posted its version on X, “The Consulate was forced to deal with a law-and-order situation arising from the unauthorized entry by certain individuals into the Consulate premises after office hours.”

    They said, “Despite repeated requests, these individuals refused to leave the Consulate premises and engaged in aggressive and threatening behavior with the Consulate staff. We were compelled to call in relevant local authorities to deal with the situation. Further action is being initiated against the trespassers.”

    In another X post, Sawant claimed, “A Consular officer said I’m being denied a visa because I’m on the Modi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) government’s ‘reject list’.”

    She said a resolution she moved in the Seattle City Council led to her being placed on the visa ‘reject list’. “It’s clear why,” she added. “My socialist City Council office passed a resolution condemning Modi’s anti-Muslim anti-poor CAA-NRC citizenship law. We also won a historic ban on caste discrimination.” The CAA refers to the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, passed by Parliament, and the NRC is the National Register of Citizens.

    In 2023, the Seattle City Council, based on a resolution moved by Sawant, added caste to the city’s anti-discrimination laws, becoming the first US city to ban caste discrimination and the first in the world to pass such a law outside South Asia.
    (Source: PTI)

  • Seattle first US city to ban caste discrimination

    Seattle first US city to ban caste discrimination

    SEATTLE (TIP): Seattle has become the first US city to add caste discrimination to its non-discrimination policy, two years after Indian-American counselor Kshama Sawant on Tuesday , February 21 successfully quarterbacked a resolution through the Seattle city council to outlaw caste discrimination.
    The resolution moved by Sawant was approved by the Seattle City Council by six to one vote. Two council members were absent during the voting. “This bill is not technically complicated, it’s a very simple question: Should discrimination based on caste be allowed to continue in Seattle?” noted Sawant.
    In a 6-1 vote on Tuesday, February 21st, Seattle City Council voted to add caste as a protected category in Seattle. The City Council made history by making the city the first in the US to ban caste discrimination. Councilmember Kshama Sawant introduced the ordinance earlier this year to add caste to the city’s anti-discrimination laws. As a Hindu American organization whose members and leadership come from diverse caste backgrounds, Hindus for Human Rights congratulates Councilmember Sawant and the coalition of organizations that fought to achieve this win.
    As progressive Hindus, it is our duty to dismantle caste and fight caste discrimination. To this end, Hindus for Human Rights Board Members, Staff, and Community Members provided public comment and endorsement of the caste protection ordinance:
    Sravya Tadepalli: I am a proud Hindu and board member of Hindus for Human Rights, a nonprofit that works to combat Hindu nationalism and caste from a Hindu faith perspective. As a Hindu, our most important belief is that God is present in every human being, and we must work to protect that equality. This law would ensure that every individual is treated equally under the law, regardless of their caste. I urge you, as a Hindu, to vote YES on the bill to ban caste discrimination. – Councilmember Sawant referenced Sravya’s quote in her testimony on Tuesday!
    Raju Rajagopal: I am Raju Rajagopal and I represent Hindus for Human Rights, which strongly supports this ordinance. We disagree with claims that this ordinance will “mainstream hate against the South Asian community” and that existing laws are adequate. Let’s remember history: We heard many similar claims during the 60’s debate that the Civil Rights legislation would unfairly target all White people. The issue of caste discrimination is no more complex than race and gender discrimination for those who have the resolve to fight it. We join caste-oppressed communities in urging the Council to unanimously pass this historic resolution without any delay.
    Ria Chakrabarty: On behalf of Hindus for Human Rights, I urge the City Council to unanimously vote yes on Councilmember Sawant’s caste discrimination ordinance without delay. This ordinance will not discriminate against Hindu Americans and this narrative by far right, upper-caste organizations like the VHPA intentionally and violently erases the many Hindus who experience casteism. Instead, the OCR will be able to help residents pursue justice when they experience caste-based discrimination. HfHR urges you to listen to our Dalit and Adivasi siblings and vote yes on this resolution without delay.
    Sathvik Nair: Respected Seattle city council members, I urge you to vote YES on the ordinance to ban caste discrimination. I am a caste privileged Hindu male with Hindus for Human Rights. Since I’ve seen caste discrimination in a tech workplace and even among my US-born peers, I am worried that we are using the excuse of the complexity of caste to prevent concrete actions that will explicitly implement protections against caste discrimination. Casteism is no more complex than racial or gender-based discrimination. City Councilmembers should be very familiar with the issue after having heard many heart- wrenching stories and testimonies directly from caste-oppressed people. The argument of complexity is often employed by opponents of social justice to try and cloud real issues, create doubt, and resist progressive measures that aim to address oppressive systems. If you truly believe in Seattle’s vision as a progressive city, you will vote YES on the measure.

  • Indian American City Council member Kshama Sawant introduces first law to ban caste discrimination

    Indian American City Council member Kshama Sawant introduces first law to ban caste discrimination

    SEATTLE, WA (TIP):  Seattle City Council’s lone socialist Indian American member Kshama Sawant has introduced first-in-the-nation legislation for the city to ban caste-based discrimination, in solidarity with its South Asian and other immigrant communities.

    If approved by the City Council, the legislation will ban caste-based discrimination in our city,” Mumbai born Sawant, 46, who has represented District 3, Central Seattle in the council since 2013, stated Tuesday, January 24.

    The legislation will prohibit businesses from discriminating based on caste with respect to hiring, tenure, promotion, workplace conditions, or wages, she stated. It will ban discrimination based on caste in places of public accommodation, such as hotels, public transportation, public restrooms, or retail establishments. The law will also prohibit housing discrimination based on caste in rental housing leases, property sales, and mortgage loans.

    “Caste discrimination doesn’t only take place in other countries. It is faced by South Asian American and other immigrant working people in their workplaces, including in the tech sector, in Seattle and in cities around the country,” Sawant stated.

    “That’s why my office is proud to bring forward first-in-the-nation legislation for our city to ban caste-based discrimination, in solidarity with our South Asian and other immigrant community members, and all working people,” she stated.

    “With over 167,000 people from South Asia living in Washington, largely concentrated in the Greater Seattle area, the region must address caste discrimination, and not allow it to remain invisible and unaddressed,” Sawant added.

    Sawant said that caste discrimination has been growing in the United States across many industries, including technology, construction, restaurants and the service industry, and in domestic work.

    “Caste discrimination is increasingly a grave contributor to workplace discrimination and bias—data from Equality Labs show that one in four caste-oppressed people faced physical and verbal assault, one in three faced education discrimination, and two in three (67%) faced workplace discrimination,” she stated. “Seattle is one of the cities where caste discrimination “remains a largely hidden and unreported issue,” Sawant stated citing a recent article in Real Change. It quotes a spokesperson from the City of Seattle Office of Civil Rights as saying, “Caste Status is not a recognized protected class in the City of Seattle and if our office were to receive a complaint based solely on caste discrimination, we would not be able to investigate it…”

    “This is exactly why City Council Democrats must vote ‘Yes’ on the legislation from my office,” Sawant stated noting, “If the City Council supports our bill, Seattle will become the first city in the nation to outlaw caste discrimination!”

    Sawant drafted the legislation alongside South Asian community leaders.

    Thenmozhi Sounderarajan of Equality Labs commented, “Equality Labs is proud to join Councilmember Kshama Sawant and Seattle citizens in this historic ordinance to add caste as a protected category to its non-discrimination policy.

    “As a national Dalit civil rights organization that has worked with many institutions around the country to add caste as a protected category, this act is the necessary first step to ensure the rights of all Seattle citizens.”

    Shahira Kaur from Equality Labs said, “Through the proposed ordinance making caste discrimination illegal, Seattle is taking the lead in a historical battle for caste equity and is ensuring that the necessary protections are in place for caste-oppressed Americans.”

    “The cancer of caste is very much present in the US,” said Anil Wagde of the Ambedkar International Center, “and the ordinance will provide much-needed teeth for the victims of caste discrimination to confront the perpetrators of caste violence. It will also play a big role in paving the way for future nationwide legislation.”

    “With growing numbers of South Asians in the USA, the number of caste atrocities are growing, too,” said Maya Kamble from the Ambedkar Association of North America. “So, adding caste as a protected category is the need of the hour and a welcome step for caste oppressed communities.” “Legal protection is the only means to guard the vulnerable from caste exploitation in places where dominant castes have privilege and preponderance,” said Karthik of the Ambedkar King Study Circle.

    “The Seattle city ordinance sponsored by Kshama Sawant to outlaw caste discrimination will set a strong precedent for the rest of the United States,” he said urging the City Council to pass the legislation.

    “The struggle against racial and gender oppression in Seattle and all across America needs to be linked with the fight against all oppression, and against economic exploitation of the majority of working people,” added Sawant.

  • Indian American Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant claims cops ignored poop-tossing attacks on her home

    Indian American Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant claims cops ignored poop-tossing attacks on her home

    SEATTLE (TIP):  Kshama Sawant, an Indian American Seattle City Council member has claimed local cops ignored a series of politically motived feces flinging attacks on her house. Sawant, 49, wrote in a letter that the Seattle Police Department has failed to properly investigate six incidents in which bags of human excrement have been thrown on the lawn of her private residence.

    “As a socialist City Councilmember who has participated in Black Lives Matter protests, I am being told that my case of six threatening incidents involving human excrement doesn’t merit even a serious investigation, let alone protection,” she wrote to city officials last week. One of the incidents was accompanied by a threatening email sent to Sawant’s office, in which someone called her “the queen of s–t” and invited her to “sit on your throne of human excrement,” according to the media. “The material used in these repeated attacks is classified as biohazardous waste. The police informed me the material can’t be sent to their lab for further investigation due to its hazardous nature,” she wrote, according to the media reports.

    “That seems quite odd considering that hospital labs do tests on human fecal matter all the time, but it does speak to the danger of having it repeatedly thrown in one’s yard,” Sawant added, noting she had to call poison control on one instance after her dogs got into the bag of waste.

    “Most concerning is the very high likelihood that this extreme and hostile behavior is politically motivated, and could turn into more serious and dangerous harassment,” she wrote, noting past threats made against her. According to Sawant, the police have failed to seriously investigate the incidents reported by her and her husband, including ignoring two witnesses, refusing to test the fecal matter, not taking video evidence collected by a neighbor. Sawant, a self-described “activist, organizer, and socialist,” claimed that when her husband informed the police about the fourth attack on Oct 8, they responded, “What do you expect us to do?” and did not open an investigation. She also said cops refused to put a police detail in front of her house for protection, a TV station reported.

    “There is obviously a glaring inconsistency between this approach and the way in which former Mayor [Jenny] Durkan, after a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest was held a short distance from her mansion, was provided with a 24-hour stakeout for a full year,” Sawant wrote.

    Police released a picture of the feces flinging suspect on Oct 20 and said they were taking the investigation “seriously.” Police called on the public to help them track down the poop-tossing suspect in an Oct 20 blotter post that identified the victim as a politician but left out her name.

    “Friends of the victim were watching the home when the suspect threw a plastic bag, containing several individual bags of suspected human feces, into the yard,” the report read. “The department takes incidents involving public officials seriously, and investigators have canvassed for evidence, gathered information from witnesses and reviewed everything collected thus far.”

    Sawant claimed that police tipped off “right-wing outlets,” including the police-run website Law Order, about the attacks and implied they were “justified,” the media reported. She blamed Seattle’s “Democratic Party establishment” for supporting the department’s purported apathy and said she was filing a complaint with the Office of Police Accountability.

  • Chicago city resolution against caste crimes in India falls

    Chicago city resolution against caste crimes in India falls

    Councilors argue against getting involved in events 8,000 miles away

    CHICAGO (TIP): Some spirited footwork by Indian-American businessmen and diplomats from the Indian consulate in Chicago stemmed the tide of resolutions criticizing the Modi Government’s policies being passed by city councils in America. A proposed resolution expressing the Chicago City Council’s solidarity with its South Asian community “regardless of religion and caste” failed on Wednesday, March 24. The proposal fell by a 26-18 vote with several abstentions, which US analysts said was a tight call for a nonbinding resolution.

    Several American cities, including Riverdale (Illinois), San Francisco, Seattle, Albany (New York), and St Paul (Minnesota), passed resolutions last year condemning the state violence in India. The resolution, introduced by Maria Hadden, led to both sides of the Indian-American community getting involved in vigorous lobbying and reports said there was active assistance from Indian diplomats posted in the US. The US Ambassador to India Taranjit Sandhu is an old American hand having served there for over a decade in several postings. Haddin hinted at the involvement of Indian diplomats. “There were some concerns, hinted at by the Consul General, that maybe this would damage some relationships with the city. I’m uncertain if this has happened before but it’s not typical,’’ she said.

    The resolution meant to condemn violence against certain castes and religious minorities in India.

    But some Chicago council members, including George Cardenas, did not want to get involved in matters 8,000 miles away. “If we take this on, why not take on the Chinese ethnic cleansing debate? We are a global city; I consider us a global city. But we have many pressing issues here at home that need our attention,” asked Cardenas.

    Earlier, the Seattle City Council had passed a unanimous resolution criticizing the CAA and NRC. Introduced by Kshama Sawant, an Indian-American member of the City Council, it had called upon Parliament to uphold the Constitution by repealing the CAA. It has also urged India to press the stop button on the NRC and come to the aid of refugees by taking the United Nations route and ratifying the relevant treaties.

    In both instances the opponents had said such resolutions needlessly sow division within Chicago’s Indian-American community. The supporters argued that the latest resolution was a symbol of solidarity “with Chicago’s South Asian community regardless of religion and caste”.

    (Source: Tribune, India)