Fresno, California, is now just the second city in the U.S. to ban caste discrimination. According to NBC News, Fresno’s City Council voted unanimously Thursday to include caste and indigenity in its list of protected categories.
The push to ban caste discrimination was initially led by Sikh residents in Fresno, but, according to the Los Angeles Times, people of Oaxacan descent quickly joined their efforts.
“It is an honor and a dream to have brought freedom for so many peoples in Fresno with this historic win,” Amar Daroch, president of the Fresno Sikh temple, Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, said, according to NBC News. “There are so many of us who are survivors of global caste systems.”
Seattle was the first city to ban caste discrimination in February, Reuters reports. A movement to outlaw caste discrimination is growing throughout the country. In California, a bill called SB 403, which would add caste to its list of protected classes, just needs a signature from the governor to become law.
Several people are participating in a hunger strike, aimed at encouraging California Governor Gavin Newsom to sign SB 403.
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