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Benjamin Almeda-Lopez 3/5/15

There are many similarities between caste in India and race in the United States. On the surface
alone, both are social categories inherited from a persons parents, rarely if ever changeable and
associated sometimes unconsciously with certain traits including criminality, poverty and mental
or physical aptitude towards certain things. Being low caste or a Dalit in India and being of
certain races in the United States both carry stigma and massive social disadvantages. As such,
race is close to being the American equivalent to caste and as a result, the fight to eliminate racial
discrimination should include caste discrimination. As understanding a problem is the first step
to solving it, it is necessary to recognize that intersectional thinking is the clearest method for
forming an accurate picture of caste discrimination in India and racial discrimination in the
United States.
For a clear understanding of race in the United States as a form of caste, one must first
understand the intersection between race and incarceration in the United States. According to
Michelle Alexanders The New Jim Crow, In the United States today there are over seven million
people under correctional control though only 1.6 million are in prisons (p.101, 2011). As
Alexander makes extremely clear, a vast majority of these people under correctional control and
branded as felons are Latino or African American. As just one of numerous examples Alexander
states that one out of every fourteen black men was behind bars in 2006, whereas only one out of
every twenty-six white men were behind bars in that same year (p.100, 2011). Also according to
Alexander, the police in the United States are already somewhat able to discriminate against
someone based on race due to the Supreme Court deciding in The United States v. BrignoniPonce allowing for race to serve as a factor in searching cars (130-131, 2011). In 2008 over 80
percent of the pedestrians stopped and frisked by the NYPD were Black or Latino and a mere

eight percent were white (p 135). Overall, people of certain races, blacks and Latinos
particularly, are highly likely to wind up in prison especially compared with their white
counterparts. This becomes especially important when examining the conditions for ex-felons in
America. According to Alexander ex-felons in America are Barred from public housing by law,
discriminated against by private landlords, ineligible for food stamps, forced to check the box
indicating a felony conviction on employment applications for nearly every job, and denied
licenses for a wide range of professions (p.94, 2011). Taken altogether, this means that there is a
group of millions of non-whites in America facing legalized discrimination, unable to vote, find
employment, or have access to even more basic things like food and housing due to a social
stigma they can never remove.
Being of a lower caste in India is similarly stigmatizing and looking at caste as it intersects with
class or economic status shows similar levels of disadvantage. In Stalins documentary India
Untouched: Stories of a People Apart demonstrates that being a Dalit in India means that one is
likely to receive an inferior education from biased instructors, be limited to low wage, often
degrading jobs and live at the mercy of an apathetic police force and influential upper caste
families (2007). Caste discrimination in India differs from racial discrimination in the U.S. at
least partially due to how much more openly people practice it. While the U.S. now has to hide
its racial discrimination behind a war on drugs and through correctional facilities and punitive
policies for felons, caste discrimination is at least open enough that multiple people of all ages,
genders and walks of life admitted to practicing it in Stalins documentary without any shame.
Even from a young age village children are shown afraid to enter the house of a Dalit woman
because they believed she would make them unclean and boys refused to put their arms around
their Dalit acquaintances for the same reason. Highly educated University students refused to be

cared for by Dalits when ill or look at them in the morning and one respected fundamentalist
religious scholar espoused the opinion that a Dalit has no right whatsoever to education or
economic advancement, as it was not their place in the order of the universe. Even Dalits
practiced discriminatory behavior towards other Dalits considered lower than they were, not
allowing the lower Dalits to enter their homes or share their food. (2007). Katherine Boos
Behind the Beautiful Forevers presents a view of caste discrimination as it intertwines with
gender, religion and class or wealth. All of the characters living in the undercity slums of
Mumbai are lower caste or Dalits, and their caste and poverty relegate them to jobs in the citys
informal economy as trashpickers, garbage sorters, and thieves. Children like Sunil stop growing
due to malnourishment and repeated illness, and public education often fails the slum children
because of incompetent or unenthusiastic teachers that bribed or cheated their way to their
positions and even Manjus informal school was a front for her mother to gain more power and
good publicity. The majority of the children in the slums lack the necessary opportunities to
succeed in moving beyond the limitations of their caste and parents social class even with
education. Abdul gave up on any aspirations he might have had regarding education in order to
help with his familys trash sorting business and his younger brother suffers the same fate when
their family is dragged into a costly criminal investigation. Only Manju is able to get a beneficial
education and the right opportunities, as her family comes from a slightly better farming caste
and more importantly, her familys ethnicity and political background both intersect in that they
allow them to form connections to a powerful political faction. Even then, Manjus mother must
essentially become a prostitute to secure her familys wellbeing (2012). Katherine Boos stark
and honest depiction shows that little concern is given to the lives of the low caste slum-dwellers
from those above them in the social hierarchy. Abduls family is persecuted endlessly, abandoned

by neighbors and driven into destitution both because of their low status and their religion as
Muslims. Kalus death goes not investigated and the authorities dismissed him as a heroin addict
when he was clearly murdered. Even multiple cases of suicide fail to gain any reaction
whatsoever from those allegedly in charge of caring for the slum community and any of the
deaths caused by negligent hospital staff are covered up through falsified medical reports and
inaccurate death certificates. Since ultimately even the way of life the low-caste slum dwellers
manage to have is destroyed along with the slum message that these are less than people to the
rest of the world forced to try and live as best they can in horrid conditions resonates clearly
(Katherine Boo, 2012). Sukhadeo Thorat and Paul Atwell also support the depiction of those of
low caste as economically disadvantaged in their study The Legacy of Social Exclusion, A
Correspondence Study of Job Discrimination In India which examine how hiring practices are
influenced by caste and religion. Thorat and Atwells study created three fake applications for
various jobs that were the same in each case with the only exception being the name of the
applicant that was changed to one that implied an obviously high-caste, obviously Dalit or
obviously muslim background. As another factor if the application asked for only applicants with
a Masters degree the high-caste application was given a bachelors degree, and in cases where a
only a Bachelors degree was required the dalit applicant was given a Masters degree. The study
found that while the over-qualified dalit faired better than the qualified dalit, both lost out
compared to the high-caste application in terms of number of call-backs regardless of the highcaste applicants qualifications (Thorat and Atwell, 2007). This supports the idea that entry level
work in many fields is more difficult to attain for low caste Indians and combined with the large
amounts of money sacrificed financing what are often ultimately useless educations as shown in

Katherine Boos Beyond the Beautiful Forevers reinforces the combination of low caste and
poverty for many of Indias citizens.
Given the above evidence, the similarities between caste discrimination in India and racial
discrimination in the United States become much clearer. Both single out particular groups based
on factors like parentage and occasionally names, though in the case of Blacks and Dalits
specifically there also exists a history of forced servitude. Both groups are often extremely
economically disadvantaged. Both are often discriminated against or at best neglected by law
enforcement and the government, denied many jobs based on their belonging to their racial or
caste group and generally forced to live in inferior conditions with fewer chances for success and
improvement than their privileged counterparts have. They also often lack one or more basic
rights of citizenship including access to proper food, shelter and water and the means to
participate meaningfully in their own governments. The main difference between racial
discrimination in the United States and Caste Discrimination in India is the level of openness
with which discrimination occurs. In India caste discrimination is somewhat openly practiced
and though in allegedly modern and cosmopolitan settings it may not always be mentioned there
are still many people who will admit to prejudiced behavior towards people of lower castes. In
the United States on the other hand open racial discrimination is not considered acceptable and
so to maintain the racial castes harsh rules and societal stigmas are instead put in place for felons
while biased policing practices ensure that blacks and latinos make up the majority of the
population affected. Given the similarities between caste discrimination and racial discrimination
in their respective countries and the level of suffering and deprivation suffered due to both, caste
should be included as a part of policies meant to fight racial discrimination. Doing so would help

to improve conditions both for those of low caste in India and minority groups in the United
States as part of a stronger, united international front for equality.

Bibliography
Alexander, Michelle. (n.d.). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of
colorblindness(Revised ed.).
Boo, Katherine. (2012). Behind the Beautiful Forevers Life, Death, and Hope In A Mumbai Undercity.
New York, New York: Random House.
India Untouched: Stories of a People Apart [Motion picture]. (2007). DRISHTI - Media, Arts and
Human Rights.
Thorat, S., & Atwell, P. (2007). The Legacy of Social Exclusion: A Correspondence Study of Job
Discrimination in India. Economic and Political Weekly, 42(41), 4141-4145. Retrieved July 15, 2013,
from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40276548 .

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