Some South Asian Americans believe caste-based prejudices exist in the U.S.

Some South Asian Americans believe caste-based prejudices exist in the U.S.

Transcript¹

Some South Asians see the caste system as a reality in the United States and others do not. California State University and others have added caste as a protected category against discrimination.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

For some South Asian Americans, moving to the U.S. meant leaving behind the discriminatory caste system in their home country. But in California, accusations² of caste-based prejudice at the workplace and on college campuses are growing louder. NPR's Sandhya Dirks explores how South Asian Americans are reconciling past and present.

SANDHYA DIRKS, BYLINE³: Prem Pariyar grew up in Nepal.

PREM PARIYAR: I belong to the untouchable community.

DIRKS: Thenmozhi Soundararajan grew up in California.

THENMOZHI SOUNDARARAJAN: We were seen as untouchable because we were seen as being spiritually defiling⁴ towards God.

DIRKS: Both of them come from the lowest caste - people who used to be called untouchables.

SOUNDARARAJAN: We reject that, and we call ourselves Dalit, which means those who have been broken but are resilient.

DIRKS: Both Pariyar and Soundararajan are American Dalits. Pariyar says he left Nepal because of caste violence.

PARIYAR: My whole family was brutally⁵ attacked.

DIRKS: He says when local police did nothing, he started to speak out, which put him at even more risk. So in 2015, he came to the United States seeking asylum⁶. Soundararajan's parents also left India, hoping to leave caste behind.

SOUNDARARAJAN: What they saw was that the more South Asians came here, especially within their immigrant networks, the more people started to rebuild caste.

DIRKS: Caste is a pervasive⁷ system of power in religions and cultures across South Asia. It's not exactly like race. It's not directly written on the skin. A last name can give it away. Sometimes it's revealed by the place your family comes from. There's all these subtle cues. So it is possible to change your name, lie about your family and pass. That's what Soundararajan's parents did.

SOUNDARARAJAN: I was actually one of the first Dalit people to be out in the country.

DIRKS: Soundararajan went on to found a Dalit civil rights organization, Equality Labs. It's at the center of this growing conversation about caste in America. When Pariyar came here, he enrolled⁸ in school at Cal State, East Bay in the Bay Area. He also didn't want to hide his identity.

PARIYAR: Changing my surname is not the solution.

DIRKS: He felt like people were constantly trying to figure out his caste status.

PARIYAR: We need to change the mindset.

DIRKS: When he did say his last name, he says he was treated differently. Fellow students' facial expressions changed, they looked him up and down - dinner parties where he was asked not to touch the food. Pariyar embarked⁹ on a mission to make caste a protected category.

PARIYAR: Same like race, same like gender¹⁰, class and sexuality. It must be the protected category. That advocacy, I started, like, in every classroom.

DIRKS: It spread to his whole school and then in January, the entire Cal State University system, joining Harvard Student Union, UC Davis, Brandeis. Soundararajan and Equality Labs - they've been involved in all these fights. But some South Asian teachers oppose adding caste as a protected category.

PRAVEEN SINHA: It's discriminatory towards us and not anybody else.

DIRKS: Praveen Sinha is a professor at Cal State, Long Beach. He says adding caste puts a target on South Asians. And he says there's no evidence that caste is an issue in the states. He says he's heard Prem Pariyar's story.

SINHA: That was his perceived discrimination - that when he said his name was this, people looked him up, top to bottom. That is not a classic definition of discrimination.

DIRKS: Sinha says if there are cases of caste discrimination, they're already covered. That's also the argument of the Hindu American Foundation, known as HAF, and its CEO, Suhag Shukla.

SUHAG SHUKLA: I didn't even know the word caste until my ninth grade history teacher asked me about.

DIRKS: HAF and Shukla argue that caste is irrelevant¹¹ in America. She says when South Asians migrated here, they did leave caste behind.

SHUKLA: It was not a part of my reality. It's even less so for my children.

DIRKS: This isn't the first time HAF and Shukla have pushed back concerning conversations around caste. HAF also argued caste shouldn't be connected to Hinduism in some California school textbooks, claiming that Hindu students were getting bullied¹² as a result. Now she worries it'll be the same at the college level.

SHUKLA: I'm scared for my nieces and nephews who live in California.

DIRKS: South Asians have faced very real and harmful racism¹³ in America, says Rohit Chopra, a professor of communications at Santa Clara University. But he says the idea that they are post-caste is a myth.

ROHIT CHOPRA: We don't recognize caste. Our children don't know what their caste is. But that is a luxury that privileged castes only have.

DIRKS: It's not a luxury people who come from oppressed castes have, says Thenmozhi Soundararajan.

SOUNDARARAJAN: We are a joyful¹⁴, loving, empathetic movement for caste abolition¹⁵. And let's put into practice in our movement what it looks like to be a South Asian community that has reckoned with our historical harm and is moving forward to build a caste-equitable future.

DIRKS: Soundararajan says if South Asian Americans can come together to do that, then maybe they really can leave caste behind.

Sandhya Dirks, NPR News.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 defiling   

v.玷污( defile的现在分词 )；污染；弄脏；纵列行进

参考例句：

• Why, to put such a phantasmagoria on the table would be defiling the whole flat. 是啊，在桌上摆这么一个妖形怪状的东西，就把整个住宅都弄得乌烟瘴气了！” 来自互联网

5 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

6 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

7 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

8 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

10 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

11 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

12 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

14 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

15 abolition   

n.废除，取消

参考例句：

• They declared for the abolition of slavery.他们声明赞成废除奴隶制度。
• The abolition of the monarchy was part of their price.废除君主制是他们的其中一部分条件。