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That's interesting. As a white guy who works in a large tech company with a lot of Indians, I'm not sure what to think about this. I can definitely believe th
by elihu 6y ago
That's interesting. As a white guy who works in a large tech company with a lot of Indians, I'm not sure what to think about this. I can definitely believe that this is a problem even if it's not obvious to me directly, but I can also see how "Indian people treat those of lower castes badly" could itself be a racist trope.
Is there anything that that would be obvious to someone from India but not a white guy from the U.S. that a co-worker is being shunned or mistreated in the workplace on account of their caste? Even knowing what caste each of one's Indian coworkers are in could be helpful in some ways and detrimental in others.
(My impression of the Indian people I've worked with is almost entirely positive, and I generally consider them to be a mistreated class already just because so many of them are here on an H1B visa and therefore could potentially be kicked out of the country if they happened to be laid off, which no doubt is in the back of their minds when considering whether or not to work through the weekend. The employee-employer relationship is edging close enough to slavery to make me uncomfortable.)
- akchin 6y agoThis is a tough one, but I would look for signals that you would look for even with non-Indians. e.g. is someone being excluded from team building activities, OR after work get togethers, OR are someone's ideas being dismissed without any particular reason. Now, with specifics to Indians, - if you hear someone mention they are Brahmin for no real reason, or in relationship to being really good at something, make a mental note that they may be at high risk of discriminating others - if you hear folks pejoratively putting down someone because of where they are from or how they grew up - a small village