Berkeleyside Idea Makers – Caste Discrimination

Our live series, Berkeleyside Idea Makers, returns Oct. 19 with a powerful conversation with influential leaders who are driving change for equity.

In 2001, Dalit activism and caste discrimination in the U.S. were thrust into the spotlight when a Berkeley landlord was convicted of sex trafficking young Dalit women from India. Over two decades later, Assembly Bill 403 — prohibiting caste discrimination in California — is making its way through the legislative process.

Join us for a captivating conversation that delves deep into the core of this important bill while examining how caste continues to impact people living in the South Asian diaspora and how the ongoing fight to eradicate caste apartheid intertwines with other civil rights movements in the U.S.

Berkeleyside’s Supriya Yelimeli will guide this dynamic discussion with journalist Sonia Paul, state Senator Aisha Wahab and Equality Labs founder Thenmozhi Soundararajan to understand the contemporary context of caste, Dalit activism and civil rights in America.

This event will take place at the David Brower Center. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the program will start promptly at 6:30 p.m. Berkeleyside would like to thank Red Oak Realty and Kaiser Permanente for their generous sponsorship support of Idea Makers.

Prepare to be enlightened, engaged and inspired.

More about our guests:

Senator Aisha Wahab: Born in New York City, to Afghan refugees pursuing the American Dream, Aisha Wahab was placed in foster care when tragedy struck her family before she could tie her own shoes. Senator Wahab prioritizes policies that impact the lives of seniors, women, and children; addressing housing affordability, civic engagement, education, and economic inequality. She served as a Hayward Councilmember, Chair of the Alameda County Human Relations Commission, Women’s March organizer, and a non-profit Board Member for several Bay Area organizations. She was also selected as a member of the White House Roundtable of Afghan-American Leaders. She received her B.A. from San Jose State University and an MBA from CSU East Bay, and is currently California State Senator for District 10.

Thenmozhi Soundararajan is a Dalit American artist, theorist, and activist who works on the issues of race, caste and gender equity. She is the Executive Director of Equality Labs and the author of The Trauma of Caste. She is a co-founder of the Californians for Caste Equity Coalition which brought hundreds of organizations and thousands of Californians together to work on the historic bill SB403 to end caste discrimination.

Sonia Paul teaches audio storytelling at Solano State Prison with KALW’s Uncuffed, a training program and podcast based in California prisons. As an independent journalist, writer and producer, she specializes in investigating how power hierarchies and transnational issues impact state systems and individual and community identity. Her stories have published widely, in outlets like WIRED, Mother Jones, Harper’s, National Geographic, 70 Million and the BBC World Service. Sonia has received several grants and fellowships to support her work, including from the Periplus Writing Collective, AAJA, SAJA, International Women’s Media Foundation, Economic Hardship Reporting Project, Religion News Foundation, Fund for Investigative Journalism and Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism. Previously based in Japan and India, Sonia is a Bay Area native. She lives in Oakland.

Supriya Yelimeli is a housing and homelessness reporter for Berkeleyside and joined the staff in May 2020 after contributing reporting since 2018 as a freelance writer. Yelimeli grew up in Fremont and has written for outlets across the Bay Area and Southern California, including as a breaking news reporter for Bay City News, and a contributor at Mission Local, NBC Los Angeles and the Pacific Coast Business Times. Yelimeli earned her undergraduate degree at UC Santa Barbara where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Nexus. She’s always reachable by Twitter and email for tips, criticism and all other feedback.

Berkeleyside thanks Red Oak Realty and Kaiser Permanente for their generous sponsorship support of Idea Makers.