Africa-Press – Lesotho. In 1630, John Winthrop, in a sermon delivered before he and his fellow settlers reached New England, described his expectation that the new Massachusetts Bay Colony would shine like an example to the world, with these words: “we shall be as a city upon a hill.
” The phrase has sometimes been modified to refer to a shining city upon a hill, the genesis of the idea of American exceptionalism.
Seattle becomes first US city to ban caste discrimination.
Pic – Al Jazeera But, even as the promise of each bright day of an exceptional America inspires us, there are those crepuscular moments of dimness and floating storm clouds to remind us that we have not met John Winthrop’s challenge.
The demons of the world are often imported to these shores by the new immigrants who arrive every year, and they become our demons and a challenge for our concept of equality to handle.
It is not that this nation has been insensitive to the clarion call of equality. It is that human nature and its capacity to engender unlimited hatred is abstruse.
So, it is that slavery flourished in America for more than twelve score years before it was declared anathema. In today’s America, many argue forcefully that the penumbra of that evil still casts a shadow on this nation. Invidious discrimination still flourishes.
In today’s America, the haters, even candidates for the presidency, spew venom at those whom they refer to as “Woke” or against LGBTQ people, the handicapped, against immigrants, the poor, against the homeless, and those ravaged by mental illness or drug addictions.
Against any helpless or less than able target, their bile flows unabated. One can add to this poisonous streak, another unwelcome hatred imported from South Asia—casteism. This system of invidious discrimination and bile-spewing hatred has made its way to the new world and casts its dark shadow on our land.
Complaints of discrimination
A few years ago, the State of California sued Cisco Systems, the company that touts itself as the worldwide leader in technology that powers the Internet, and two of its engineer employees alleging that those employees at the company discriminated against and harassed a fellow Indian engineer at its Silicon Valley headquarters because of his caste.
That engineer-victim was a member of the Dalit caste, considered the lowest caste, whose members are also referred to as “untouchable. ” Last month the California agency that filed the suit, dismissed the case against the two employee engineers.
The reason for the dismissal is not clear but a good guess is that the California statute permits suits only against employers, not against fellow employees without management authority. Nevertheless, the suit continues against Cisco the company in its capacity as employer.
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