Punjabi Americans want a California free of discrimination. Will an anti-caste bill help?

There’s a sense of refuge Satnam Singh has found in Yuba City.

After leaving his home state of Punjab in the late ‘80s, he soon joined the tens of thousands of Punjabi Sikhs that call California’s Central Valley communities their home and found acceptance despite the significant barriers he encountered back in India.

Singh is of Dalit ancestry. The word refers to those who have been relegated to the bottom of the centuries old South Asian caste system, a social hierarchy that has historically determined people’s jobs, education and social mobility.

Singh says no one treats him differently in his city. He would rather leave caste discrimination in the past and therefore does not support the Senate Bill 403 that would make California the first state in the nation to include caste in it’s anti-discrimination laws.

“You can buy the same house as them. You can buy the same clothes as them, eat the same food. There’s none of that sort of division anymore, because we don’t believe it in here,” Singh said. His daughter helped explain and translate her father’s views from Punjabi.

In contrast to Singh, the bill has garnered support from scores of Punjabi and Sikh Americans community institutions. Religious and community leaders say caste discrimination has already made it’s way here, and putting protections into the law will give the issue much needed attention and visibility.

A smaller crowd of Sikh opponents in Sacramento worries the bill gives caste more power than it deserves.

There is one thing that the community agrees upon: Future generations of Sikhs should be able to live in California without disparate treatment because of their caste at temples, schools or lodging. The disagreement lies in the best way to make that happen.

“I’m not surprised at all that this debate is here.” said Nicole Ranganath, assistant professor of Middle East and South Asian studies at UC Davis. Much like other immigrants: “People from all different levels of society in South Asia, when they decided to immigrate to the United States, they had different aspirations, different dreams for how they could transform themselves when they left. ... These issues are highly complex with deep histories.”

How does caste show up in Punjabi Sikh spaces? One example

Deepak Saroya believes that a diagnosis is essential to finding a cure.

A Lincoln resident, Saroya is secretary of the Shri Guru Ravidass Temple on the outskirts of Sacramento in Rio Linda. His religious community, the Ravidassia, total around 20,000 throughout California’s Central Valley. Their faith is closely associated with the state’s nearly 250,000 Sikhs, many of whom live an hour-away in Yuba City.

While there are dozens of traditional Sikh temples throughout the state, there are six Ravidassia ones: Rio Linda, Yuba City, Selma, Fresno, Pittsburgh, Union City. They’ve all expressed support for the bill, except Yuba City, the hometown of Singh.

“We have to face the caste... We cannot run away from the disease,” Saroya said. “(A) remedy should be in place. We knew that and especially I knew that we have to face the caste system here. We have to tackle this.”

Saroya, who came to the US in 2010 from Punjab, India, has had a different experience than those who attend mainstream gurdwaras, or temples.

The Sikh religion is known as egalitarian, professing equality regardless of caste. Converts often shed caste-indicative last names and adopt Singh or Kaur. Ravidassia communities share several practices with Sikhs, including some sacred texts.

But in practice, entire religious communities have formed back in Punjab, where Sikhism was founded, to create safe spaces of worship and prayer for Dalits. Some of the patterns of exclusion spilled over to the US, leaders of the Ravidassia temples say, and they kept this practice to ensure their safety in California.

Part of the disagreement over the legislation is a matter of competing practices for the future, said Naindeep Singh, executive director of the Jakara Movement, a youth-led community organizing group for Punjabi and Sikh Californians. While he points to a growing list of Sikh organizations and gurdwaras in support of the bill, he said there are a few people who feel that referencing caste in a state law would only further divide the community by caste.

At the same time, Naindeep Singh also feels there have been bad faith attacks on the bill that take advantage of people’s experiences and fears. After initially sending letters of opposition to state leaders, some temples in Yuba City reversed their position or declared neutrality. Many wrote to lawmakers they were originally misinformed about what the bill did.

Celebrating those reversals and their community organizing in support of the bill, the Jakara Movement held a seminar with lawyers in Punjabi in late June to “really inform the community.”

“We want people to actually listen to legal experts who actually understand the impact of the law rather than those only sharing their opinion.”

Who are the other Sikh leaders supporting this bill?

Other Sikhs in Yuba City from a variety of caste backgrounds have also stepped up to support the bill. Watching through a livestream hosted by his wife, Jasbir Kang witnessed his fellow supporters urge the Assembly Judiciary Committee to advance the bill on July 5.

A doctor from Yuba City who helped found its local Punjabi American Heritage Society, Kang has taken a gentle approach to swaying the bill’s critics. In the sweltering heat outside the Capitol, supporters and opponents could be seen having spirited debate over chapati, a round, flat unleavened bread, and vegetable curries.

“I have nothing against the people who opposed it. They are also my brothers and sisters. We all need to find a common ground and I know that that’s what America is about: People having different opinions,” said Kang, who met with several of the gurdwaras who went on to reverse their positions. He believes fighting discrimination is simple: “This is just the right thing to do.”

Kang has fielded complaints of discrimination from local farm workers, for example, being told more privileged caste workers don’t want to work with them. “By denying that it is not there, it’s not going to go away,” he said.

He himself is from a dominant caste background, the Jats. They are an agrarian caste that has become more landowning and privileged over time, one example of how the caste system is not as rigid and constant as the traditional pyramid often conceptualized by the West.

Some Ravidassia leaders say that the solidarity they’ve seen from more caste-privileged Sikhs is a sign that times could be changing, and that healing could be taking place. As several gurdwaras went on to reverse their positions, Kang also helped push temples in Roseville, Stockton and Sacramento to support the bill.

“For the last couple of years, there’s been a movement to join in one together,” said Nirmal Singh, a Ravidassia social activist from Bakersfield. Especially for the second and third generation of Indian Americans: “We’re trying to bridge those gaps and bring the whole community together.”

A focus on the future

At U.S. parks with his kids, Saroya said other Indians often ask about his family’s caste to determine their interactions.

Some Ravidassia community activists said they see marriage ads in the US explicitly looking for “upper-caste” spouses. A friend down in Stockton told Saroya that his business began to struggle when the local South Asian community found out about his caste. It’s an unfortunate reality they’ve come to expect, he said.

Satnam Singh said he doesn’t get asked his caste. He’s used to finding community in his local Shri Guru Ravidass Temple in Yuba City, but also the other ones in town. There’s no difference to him, he said.

Explaining his opposition to the bill, he says he’s thinking into the future: “The younger generation, they haven’t experienced the caste system,” his daughter explained. “It’s like a generational trauma cycle that they’re trying to break.”

At Saroya’s Rio Linda temple, there are pictures of Dalit civil rights icon B.R. Ambedkar covering the walls. The main architect of the Indian constitution, he was key to outlawing caste discrimination in the country after independence from the British. In practice, it continues to persist in South Asia today.

“He explicitly put that caste word into the Constitution,” Saroya said, framing his advocacy for the bill as a continuation of Ambedkar’s legacy. “You cannot cure the disease by hiding it. You have to expose it.”

Earlier this month, the bill went on to clear the Assembly Judiciary Committee in a 9-0 vote, and now heads to the Appropriations Committee. It has already moved out of the Senate. Advocates credited the support of Sikh and Ravidassia leaders for the progress.