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“Born into a ‘formerly untouchable manual-scavenging family in small-town India,’ Yashica Dutt was taught from a young age to not appear ‘Dalit looking.’ Although prejudice against Dalits, who compose 25% of the population, has been illegal since 1950, caste-ism in India is alive and well. Blending her personal history with extensive research and reporting, Dutt provides an incriminating analysis of caste’s influence in India over everything from entertainment to judicial systems and how this discrimination has carried over to US institutions.

Dutt traces how colonial British forces exploited and perpetuated a centuries-old caste system, how Gandhi could have been more forceful in combating prejudice, and the role played by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, whom Isabel Wilkerson called ‘the MLK of India’s caste issues’ in her book Caste. Alongside her analysis, Dutt interweaves personal stories of learning to speak without a regional accent growing up and desperately using medicinal packs to try to lighten her skin.

Raw and affecting, Coming Out as Dalit brings a new audience of readers into a crucial conversation about embracing Dalit identity, offering a way to change the way people think about caste in their own communities and beyond.” -- Publisher description.