美国国家公共电台 NPR--California is considering a bill to make caste a protected category

California is considering a bill to make caste a protected category

Transcript¹

Seattle is the first American city to protect people against discrimination based on caste. California could become the first state.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Seattle, as we have reported, is the first American city to protect people against discrimination based on caste. California could become the first state. NPR's Sandhya Dirks reports.

SANDHYA DIRKS, BYLINE²: When Rita Meher immigrated³ to America over two decades ago, she kept her caste a secret.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RITA MEHER: This is very personal for me.

DIRKS: That's Meher speaking in February at a Seattle City Council meeting about finally coming out of the caste closet just a month before.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MEHER: I publicly came out as an Adivasi. Adivasis are Indigenous⁴ tribal⁵ communities who face untouchability, along with Dalits.

DIRKS: Caste is a hierarchical system of power found in South Asian cultures and religions. And it's complicated. Adivasis like Meher are so far at the bottom as to kind of be outside the caste system, while Dalits are the lowest caste, the ones that used to be called untouchables. Meher says the reason she got so emotional at that council meeting...

MEHER: It just hit me, the years of oppression and racism⁶ or discrimination I had faced. It just got released. I felt free.

DIRKS: Schools like Brandeis, UC Davis and the whole California State University system have added caste as a protected category in recent years. Now State Senator Aisha Wahab wants to add California to that list. She says as we become more diverse, we have to understand discrimination exists in other cultures, too.

AISHA WAHAB: A lot of back home politics are getting in the way of the full potential of an individual.

DIRKS: Wahab's district is right in Silicon⁷ Valley. South Asians make up a growing number of tech workers. And tech has become a major center for these conversations about caste and casteism.

THENMOZHI SOUNDARARAJAN: Caste is complex as a sociohistorical phenomenon.

DIRKS: That's Thenmozhi Soundararajan. She's a Dalit activist⁸ and the founder⁹ of Equality Labs, which is front and center in the fight for caste equity¹⁰.

SOUNDARARAJAN: But the things that caste-oppressed people are complaining about are very obviously civil rights and labor¹¹ violations¹², open usage of slurs¹³, bullying¹⁴ in the workplace, sexual harassment¹⁵.

DIRKS: Soundararajan says you don't need to fully¹⁶ understand caste to understand it's a system of oppression. But not everyone agrees with that. Pushpita Prasad is with the Coalition¹⁷ of Hindus of North America - or CoHNA. She says there are bad apples, and individual people might discriminate¹⁸.

PUSHPITA PRASAD: All of us talked about personal stories of discrimination and struggle. But is it systemic?

DIRKS: Prasad says no. She says adding caste as a protected category singles out the religion most associated, Hinduism.

PRASAD: When you start to say that one set of people behave differently from all other sets of people, that's the definition of racism.

DIRKS: Her fellow CoHNA member, Sudha Jagannathan, is Bahujan - from a lower caste. She says caste isn't the issue that proponents¹⁹ of the bill claim it to be, not in America and not back in India.

SUDHA JAGANNATHAN: My own experience, never faced caste. My family was too poor to practice caste or be oppressed by somebody else.

DIRKS: She says these anti-discrimination laws are Hinduphobic.

JAGANNATHAN: It's picking on us with things that do not apply to us in our American life, forcing us to acknowledge that we are casteist. Who are they?

DIRKS: But Thenmozhi Soundararajan says it's not Hinduphobic to talk about the realities of caste.

SOUNDARARAJAN: It only impacts people that discriminate. If you're not a bigot, it doesn't bother you.

DIRKS: As California takes up this legislation to ban caste discrimination, the battle over who gets to define caste in the United States and whether it's systemic will continue.

Sandhya Dirks, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIJAY IYER, PRASANNA AND NITIN MITTA'S "FALSEHOOD")

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 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。

3 immigrated   

v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民

参考例句：

• He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
• Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句

4 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

5 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

6 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。

7 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

8 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

9 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

10 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

11 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

12 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

13 slurs   

含糊的发音( slur的名词复数 )； 玷污； 连奏线； 连唱线

参考例句：

• One should keep one's reputation free from all slurs. 人应该保持名誉不受责备。
• Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian. 种族主义辱骂，种族笑话，都是跟亚裔有关的。

14 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

16 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

17 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

18 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

19 proponents   

n.（某事业、理论等的）支持者，拥护者( proponent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Reviewing courts were among the most active proponents of hybrid rulemaking procedures. 复审法院是最积极的混合型规则制定程序的建议者。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Proponents of such opinions were arrested as 'traitors. ' 提倡这种主张的人马上作为“卖国贼”逮捕起来。 来自辞典例句