Harassment of Sikhs
URL- http://pluralismcenter.blogspot.com/2013/09/dr-prabhojot-singh-and-jageet-singh.html
We have ways to go to fully realize the value of our constitution, it is violated every day. We take the pledge that we are one nation under God with liberty and Justice for all, and yet we go out and tear the nation apart on the basis of race, religion or sexual orientation, and take away the liberty and justice of others. It is not acceptable, particularly if the violations come from the law enforcement officials. We have to fix this and we need all Americans to take a stand.
URL- http://pluralismcenter.blogspot.com/2013/09/dr-prabhojot-singh-and-jageet-singh.html
We have ways to go to fully realize the value of our constitution, it is violated every day. We take the pledge that we are one nation under God with liberty and Justice for all, and yet we go out and tear the nation apart on the basis of race, religion or sexual orientation, and take away the liberty and justice of others. It is not acceptable, particularly if the violations come from the law enforcement officials. We have to fix this and we need all Americans to take a stand.
How many of us value our pledge, the pledge of allegiance?
Of course, the majority values it, but the tiny minority of about
1/10th of 1% of the people does not value any laws. That is the case in every
aspect of life. It is that tiny group of individuals who violate the laws of
the land or guidance of the religions as they did in Kenyan Shooting and
bombing the Church in Pakistan.
 |
| Unity Day USA - September 11, 2012 |
Dr. Prabhjot Singh, a Professor at Columbia University lives
in one of the most urban of cities of America, New York. Last week he faced utter
humiliation. Police said one of the men pulled Prabhjot Singh's beard while the
teenagers yelled "get Osama" and "terrorist." Singh, who
wears a turban per his Sikh religious tradition, and is a public advocate for
interfaith dialogue, was kicked several times to the body and face.
Jageet Singh, a truck driver was pulled over by the Police
in Mississippi, and the officers demanded that "Mr. Singh remove the
Kirpan. When Mr. Singh explained that he was a Sikh and that the Kirpan was a
sacred religious article, the officers laughed at him and mocked his religious
beliefs. One officer declared that all Sikhs are "depraved" and
"terrorists." They continued to taunt him, and forced Mr. Singh to
circle his truck with his hands on his turban while they searched the vehicle.
Finally, not content with this humiliation, they arrested him, claiming that
Mr. Singh had refused to obey an officer's lawful command." On the top of
that, Judge Rimes, ordered that Mr. Singh would not be allowed to re-enter the
courtroom unless he removed "that rag" from his head and threatened
to call Mr. Singh last on the docket if he continued to wear the religious
headdress.
First of all, as Americans we condemn the behavior of the
teens, police officers and the judge, this is not acceptable in our country,
and secondly, we need to penalize the involved and have them pay for it to set
a precedent that this behavior is not acceptable.
What do we need to do in the long run?
We need to learn about each other, not because it is a noble thing, but because we all have to live together with least tensions.
Our Founding Fathers laid the ground work for such a society, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Martin Luther King Jr. said that we should be judged by what
we can deliver, rather than our race, religion or ethnicity.
Chief Seattle, a Native American said this perfectly, "All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does it to himself."
How are we going to preserve that delicate web? What issues divide us and how do we cope with them? How do we allay the prevalent phobias? How do we focus on our vision for a prosperous America?
John F Kennedy was blunt, "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." We need to channel that energy and passion in building a cohesive America.
Every American must feel a sense of security, safety and freedom. If we can learn to respect the otherness of others and accept the God given uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.
Last year on September 11, we held Unity Day USA, an inclusive event that brings Americans of different faiths, or no faith and races together. In its 9th years, the Sikh community was highlighted for the outstanding Model behavior they created in response to the Wisconsin shooting; we also focused on the 1984 Sikh Genocide of New Delhi in our 6th Annual Holocaust and Genocides event. It was good for the fellow Americans to learn and know about them, and we hope to continue to do programs to bring people together, so we can learn about each other.
If we can learn to respect the otherness of others, and accept the God given uniqueness of each one of the 318 Million Americans, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.
Mike Ghouse is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day - More about Mike at www.MikeGhouse.net
Sikh professor attacked in New York in alleged hate crime
Police said one of the men pulled Prabhjot Singh's beard while the teenagers yelled "get Osama" and "terrorist." Singh, who wears a turban and is a public advocate for interfaith dialogue, was kicked several times to the body and face.
"There were about 20 of them," Singh said. "A few surrounded me, started punching me and pulling my beard." He was hospitalized for his injuries and received surgery for a possible fracture in his left jaw, according to a statement.
Amardeep Singh, program director of the Sikh Coalition, a national advocacy organization founded after 9/11, said the incident is a part of systematic discrimination against Sikhs in the United States.
"What happened did not happen in a vacuum," he said. "Here in New York City, we regularly receive reports that Sikh school children are called 'bin Laden' or 'terrorist' by classmates and sometimes endure physical violence."
Sikhs have suffered from a spate of attacks in recent years based on prejudices against their religion. A recent Stanford University survey showed that 70 percent of turban wearers in the U.S. are misidentified as Muslim (48 percent), Hindu, Buddhist or Shinto.
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded in the Punjab region of India in the late 15th century and has no ties to Islam.
The study, titled "Turban Myths," also found that nearly half of all Americans believe that the Sikh faith is a sect of Islam, and even more people associate the turban with Osama bin Laden than with other Muslim or Sikh figures.
"Unfortunately our research confirms that Prabhjot's experience is not the resulted of isolated misperception and intolerance," said Jasjit Singh, executive director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the sponsor of the Stanford study.
The results help explain the long list of hate crimes against the Sikh population since Sept. 11, 2001.
Two elderly Sikhs were gunned down in Elk Grove, California in April 2011. A Sikh subway worker was assaulted in New York City in June 2011. A cab driver was attacked in Seattle, Wash. in Oct. 2012, and, in Aug. 2012, a white supremacist shot dead six Sikh worshippers at a temple in Oak Creek, Wisc., in what the Sikh Coalition says is "one of the worst attacks on an American place of worship since the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church," referring to the attack in Birmingham, Alabama.
In response to the attack, the Sikh Coalition spearheaded a U.S. Senate hearing on hate crimes, where it demanded the government set up a task force to help prevent such tragedies from happening again, similar to the Clinton administration's efforts in reaction to a series of arson attacks on black churches in the South in the 1990s.
But officials' support remains elusive, policy advocates say.
"Where is the indignation, where is the outrage? Where is the presidential task force to address post-9/11 violence?" Rajdeep Singh, director of law and policy at the Sikh Coalition, told Al Jazeera.
In June, the FBI decided to track hate crimes against Sikhs specifically instead of lumping them together with other religious hate crimes. But even though the measure represents a step in the right direction, policy advocates said it stops short of addressing the underlying problem.
"It is great the FBI has started tracking Sikhs, because it will give us numbers going forward, but it doesn't prevent these crimes from happening," Anisha Singh, policy advocate at UNITED SIKHS, an advocacy organization, told Al Jazeera.
"In order to do that, we need to actively educate Americans what Sikhism is and how it is a different religion from what they are confusing us with."
Sikh volunteers are taking on the problem by conducting surveys among high school students in states such as Mississippi, Tennessee and Massachusetts, where bullying has been rampant compared to national averages. They're also raising awareness about the issue by talking to state and federal politicians.
According to a SALDEF survey among Sikh American students in Southern California, 67 percent of Sikh American children were bullied or harassed within the last school year, and 31 percent have been threatened with physical violence or harm.
==============
Judge to Sikh Man: Remove “That Rag” or Go to Jail
Today, in a letter
to the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT), the ACLU and
United Sikhs called on state officials to investigate the harassment of a
Sikh commercial truck driver pulled over early this year for a flat
tire. After detaining Mr. Jageet Singh in January as he passed through
Mississippi, the officers called him a "terrorist" and harassed and
humiliated him because of his appearance and religious beliefs. As a
devout Sikh, Mr. Singh wears a turban and carries a kirpan.
A kirpan is a small, spiritual sword that is sheathed and sewn to the
waistband. It is designed and worn as an article of faith, much as a
cross is worn by devout Christians.
Contending, wrongly, that his kirpan was illegal, the officers demanded that Mr. Singh remove it. When Mr. Singh explained that he was a Sikh and that the kirpan was a sacred religious article, the officers laughed at him and mocked his religious beliefs. One officer declared that all Sikhs are "depraved" and "terrorists." They continued to taunt him, and forced Mr. Singh to circle his truck with his hands on his turban while they searched the vehicle. Finally, not content with this humiliation, they arrested him, claiming that Mr. Singh had refused to obey an officer's lawful command.
Mr. Singh's ordeal did not end with the MDOT. When he returned to Mississippi on March 26, 2013, for his court date at the Pike County Justice Court, he once again suffered humiliation, harassment, and discrimination because of his religious beliefs. Waiting for his attorney in the back of the courtroom, he was stunned when four Highway Patrol officers approached him and ordered him to leave the courtroom. The officers stated that Judge Aubrey Rimes had ordered them to eject Mr. Singh from the courtroom because he did not like Mr. Singh's turban. Moreover, they told Mr. Singh that Judge Rimes would punish him if he failed to remove his headdress.
When Mr. Singh's attorney went to Judge Rimes's chambers to inquire about the matter, he readily confirmed that he had expelled Mr. Singh from the courtroom because of his turban. He further stated that Mr. Singh would not be allowed to re-enter the courtroom unless he removed "that rag" from his head and threatened to call Mr. Singh last on the docket if he continued to wear the religious headdress.
As an observant Sikh, Mr. Singh wears a turban at all times as a reminder and public declaration of his connection to God. For him, the turban is an inseparable part of his Sikh religious identity: Like all Sikhs, Mr. Singh believes that a man cannot be considered a Sikh if he does not wear the turban and that unwrapping his turban and exposing his "naked" head in public is sacrilegious and shameful.
Mr. Singh respectfully declined to remove his turban. As threatened, Judge Rimes forced Mr. Singh and his attorney to wait for several hours until every other litigant had been heard before allowing him into the courtroom.
The Pike County Board of Supervisors recently recognized that Judge Rimes's harassment of Mr. Singh was unacceptable. In response to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Board revised the County's harassment and non-discrimination policy to explain that religious discrimination includes "requiring an individual to remove a head covering or denying that individual access to a County office, building, program or activity because they are wearing a head covering, if that head covering is worn for religious reasons."
But Judge Rimes should not have needed a DOJ investigation or county policy to know that his conduct was impertinent and inappropriate. Our justice system is founded on the principle that every person entering a courthouse is equal before the law and is entitled to respect. Judge Rimes's treatment of Mr. Singh – in particular his use of the slur "rag" and his effort to intimidate and embarrass Mr. Singh because of his minority faith – flouted his responsibility under the Mississippi Judicial Code of Conduct to uphold the dignity of the judiciary.
The ACLU and United Sikhs also plan to file a complaint with the Mississippi Judicial Commission, asking officials to investigate Judge Rimes's conduct and impose appropriate sanctions.
The letter sent today to MDOT officials demands that they provide public documents relating to Mr. Singh's detainment and arrest and urges them to implement an ongoing training program to educate officers about their responsibility to treat every person with dignity and to remain respectful of religious diversity.
Contending, wrongly, that his kirpan was illegal, the officers demanded that Mr. Singh remove it. When Mr. Singh explained that he was a Sikh and that the kirpan was a sacred religious article, the officers laughed at him and mocked his religious beliefs. One officer declared that all Sikhs are "depraved" and "terrorists." They continued to taunt him, and forced Mr. Singh to circle his truck with his hands on his turban while they searched the vehicle. Finally, not content with this humiliation, they arrested him, claiming that Mr. Singh had refused to obey an officer's lawful command.
Mr. Singh's ordeal did not end with the MDOT. When he returned to Mississippi on March 26, 2013, for his court date at the Pike County Justice Court, he once again suffered humiliation, harassment, and discrimination because of his religious beliefs. Waiting for his attorney in the back of the courtroom, he was stunned when four Highway Patrol officers approached him and ordered him to leave the courtroom. The officers stated that Judge Aubrey Rimes had ordered them to eject Mr. Singh from the courtroom because he did not like Mr. Singh's turban. Moreover, they told Mr. Singh that Judge Rimes would punish him if he failed to remove his headdress.
When Mr. Singh's attorney went to Judge Rimes's chambers to inquire about the matter, he readily confirmed that he had expelled Mr. Singh from the courtroom because of his turban. He further stated that Mr. Singh would not be allowed to re-enter the courtroom unless he removed "that rag" from his head and threatened to call Mr. Singh last on the docket if he continued to wear the religious headdress.
As an observant Sikh, Mr. Singh wears a turban at all times as a reminder and public declaration of his connection to God. For him, the turban is an inseparable part of his Sikh religious identity: Like all Sikhs, Mr. Singh believes that a man cannot be considered a Sikh if he does not wear the turban and that unwrapping his turban and exposing his "naked" head in public is sacrilegious and shameful.
Mr. Singh respectfully declined to remove his turban. As threatened, Judge Rimes forced Mr. Singh and his attorney to wait for several hours until every other litigant had been heard before allowing him into the courtroom.
The Pike County Board of Supervisors recently recognized that Judge Rimes's harassment of Mr. Singh was unacceptable. In response to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Board revised the County's harassment and non-discrimination policy to explain that religious discrimination includes "requiring an individual to remove a head covering or denying that individual access to a County office, building, program or activity because they are wearing a head covering, if that head covering is worn for religious reasons."
But Judge Rimes should not have needed a DOJ investigation or county policy to know that his conduct was impertinent and inappropriate. Our justice system is founded on the principle that every person entering a courthouse is equal before the law and is entitled to respect. Judge Rimes's treatment of Mr. Singh – in particular his use of the slur "rag" and his effort to intimidate and embarrass Mr. Singh because of his minority faith – flouted his responsibility under the Mississippi Judicial Code of Conduct to uphold the dignity of the judiciary.
The ACLU and United Sikhs also plan to file a complaint with the Mississippi Judicial Commission, asking officials to investigate Judge Rimes's conduct and impose appropriate sanctions.
The letter sent today to MDOT officials demands that they provide public documents relating to Mr. Singh's detainment and arrest and urges them to implement an ongoing training program to educate officers about their responsibility to treat every person with dignity and to remain respectful of religious diversity.
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