Seattle leader ignites change in sharing caste identity

Back in February, the City Council voted to make Seattle the first city in the country to ban discrimination based on a person’s caste. Caste is like a social or economic class, but it’s hereditary. It doesn’t change.

The vote was a watershed for those who say that caste discrimination exists even in the United States. And for one supporter of the measure, it was a chance to open up about an identity that she had kept hidden.

RadioActive Youth Media’s Aliyah Musaliar has more.

Rita Meher is the executive director of Tasveer, an arts organization that hosts the largest South Asian film festival in the country.

When the Seattle ordinance was proposed, Meher decided to speak out in support of it. She also decided to reveal her own identity. She told City Council members that she’s Adivasi.