Behind Seattle's caste discrimination law: Today So Far

• Tensions were high around Seattle City Hall when the Council passed the city's law against caste discrimination. One supporter spoke out about her caste for the first time.
• Seattle has made a couple big hires that will influence the city as it grows.

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for June 21, 2023.

The Seattle City Council debated a proposed local law in February that would make discrimination based on caste illegal in the city. A February council meeting on the issue drew supporters and opponents from Seattle and beyond. Tensions and emotions were high.

Shobha Swamy flew in from Atlanta to voice her opposition to Seattle's proposal, as a representative of the Coalition of Hindus of North America. Some argued that the law unfairly targeted Hindus. Others worried that Seattle's law would increase discrimination. A Seattle tech business owner said that the law reminded him of the discrimination in India, which he felt was obsolete in the USA.

But they weren't the only voices in the room that day. Others related different experiences, both direct and indirect, after moving to the United States. It hasn't felt obsolete to them. The Council eventually approved the law, meaning that discrimination based on caste is as illegal as discrimination based on race or religion in Seattle. This would be for things like hiring and renting. Upon its approval, some broke into tears.

Seattle Now had a really good conversation about this shortly after the law passed.

At that meeting in February, Rita Meher spoke in favor of the ordinance. Meher is known around Seattle as executive director of Tasveer, the largest South Asian film festival in the USA. Until that meeting, it wasn't widely known that she was Adivasi.

"Adivasi are indigenous tribal communities who face caste discrimination, and untouchability ... I face social and economic ostracization," Meher said in front of the Council.

Talking with KUOW's RadioActive, Meher recalled growing up in India and being forced to stand in front of her class so students would know who the lower castes were, "and immediately you would see a reaction or they would snicker at you."

Meher kept this fact a secret, even after moving to the United States. But now, years later, at age 50, she decided it was time to stop hiding. That led to her revealing comments in front of the Council earlier this year. Despite living openly, this move didn't come without consequences.

RadioActive's Aliya Musaliar has the full story on this. You can hear it on a recent episode of Soundside.

The city of Seattle has made a couple big hires recently that will influence how different corners of the city take shape.

Minneapolis artist and arts administrator Gülgün Kayim will be moving to town to lead Seattle's Office of Arts and Culture. It took a 16-member committee and a national search to select Kayim for the job.

"I look forward to the new energy and ideas she will bring to our team, helping build One Seattle through a commitment to uplifting the voices of those too often underrepresented, building trusted relationships in our arts community, and supporting a flourishing and inclusive creative landscape," Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a statement.

Unlike Kayim, Rico Quirindongo is not a new face to Seattle. He's lived locally for years and was recently acting director of Seattle's Office of Planning and Community Development. The City Council recently approved officially making him the head of the department. This office plays a big role in how Seattle grows. It provides research and data for various policies. As KUOW's Joshua McNichols notes, this means Quirindongo is going to handle local implementation of Washington state's new middle housing law. Cities like Seattle are now looking at the potential of duplexes, fourplexes, and sixplexes (oh my!) in areas they previously were not allowed. This housing could start coming online in just a few years.

AS SEEN ON KUOW

Linda Conway, senior product engineer at Lumotive, prepares to analyze a semiconductor chip sample under SEM (scanning electron microscope) on Thursday, May 25, 2023, at Lumotive’s lab in Redmond. She is used to being the only woman in the room, and still gets "shocked at how little men can think of me." Conway said she feels valued in her current role, but she suspects she was paid less than her male colleagues in previous jobs, and notes that she was often passed up for promotion opportunities. This is one way bias can hide in the data. The gender pay gap in tech virtually disappears when you adjust for job title, but that doesn’t reflect the lost earnings of women who aren’t promoted to the same title as their male colleagues. (Megan Farmer / KUOW)

DID YOU KNOW?

It's the summer solstice! Well, more precisely, summer solstice was at 7:57 a.m. today. This is the point of the year when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky. It will stay there for a few days, before lowering day by day, getting darker until the winter solstice in December.

Just as cultures around the globe celebrate the winter solstice in different ways, there are a range of traditions for the summer solstice. You've probably seen a lot of flower wreaths and crowns around this time, but it seems another common idea that spans many cultures is lighting a bonfire. In parts of Austria, fires are lit across mountain peaks. Spain's Pyrenees mountain range has a similar tradition, which involves the flame of Canigou. This fire is kept burning all year round at a castle in Perpignan, France, just over the border from Spain. A flame from that fire is taken to the top of Mount Canigou to start a bonfire. Then more flames are lit from that fire and are dispatched throughout the Catalonia region to light more fires, and more torches, and so forth. A variety of volunteers move this flame around and it is estimated that it visits around 300 villages and lights about 30,000 fires.

In Latvia, they take things a step further ... actually a leap further. They have a big party with beer on the summer solstice and light a bonfire. Folks then jump over the fire, which is said to be good luck. In Norway, a massive bonfire is crafted on the island of Ålesund. Folks stack wood as high as 130 feet. The more adventurous climb to the top where they light the fire, and quickly climb down. In 2010, this event set a world record for the tallest bonfire. That record has since been beat and the title of tallest bonfire is currently held by Craigyhill, Ireland (but that bonfire was not part of a summer solstice event).

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