It is surprising that governor Gavin Newsom should grant so much importance to the word of one caste-privileged Indian-American against the lived experiences of many.
On 7 October, somewhat mystifyingly, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 403. The bill would have explicitly banned discrimination on grounds of caste. The official reason provided by the governor for the veto was that California’s existing anti-discrimination law was “liberally construed”, that is, it was capacious enough to provide protections against caste-based discrimination.
The decision was surprising for at least three reasons. First, the bill had overwhelming bipartisan support in the California legislature from both Democrats and Republicans, unusual in these times of extreme polarization in the US. Second, the Democratic party has usually been the party of …
Rohit is a professor of communication at Santa Clara University. His research centres on global media and culture, online communities and the relationship of media, memory and violence. He is the author or editor of four books, most recently, The Gita for a Global World: Ethical Action in an Age of Flux (Westland 2021). His current book projects focus on disability in global culture and media and media representations of the 1992-93 communal riots in Mumbai. His writing has been featured in Time, The Conversation, South China Morning Post, Scroll, The Wire and The Caravan. You can find out more about him at www.rohitchopra.com.
newsletters+rohitc@themorningcontext.com