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Joe Biden runs into a determined
young Sikh girl with piercing queries
WSN Network
 Lodi, NJ: Vice
President Joe Biden, last Thursday suddenly found himself facing a
barrage of questions by a bunch of young Sikh students in the small
town of Lodi, New Jersey where he had visited for a new construction
project meant to widen Main Street and US Route 46. The project is
being funded with mostly federal money due to the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act.
Even as most
Lodi citizens were pushed back far away from the Vice President, a
small group of young people managed to gather on an eastbound ramp
to watch the Vice President's speech from afar and called for Biden
to come over repeatedly. Eventually, they got their wish as Biden
came over to greet the crowd.
But just as he
was shaking every hand and chatting with members of Lodi High
School's soccer team, and posed for two official pictures with the
students, it became apparent that the Sikh students were determined
to raise the event to more than a photo-op.
A young Sikh
woman, Gurbakhash Kaur, was ready for the chance. A resident of
Lodi, Gurbakhash Kaur, who is starting medical school at Drexel
University this August and is a member of the Sikh Youth of America,
tried to question the Vice President about two Sikhs in the United
States Army who were told to cut their hair in order to serve. The
two men were medical professionals entering the U.S. military, and
their religion forbids them to cut their hair.
Vice President
Biden interrupted Kaur to tell her a member of his staff is a Sikh
and did not allow her to finish her question. Afterwards, Kaur said,
"I want the story to get coverage, as hardly anyone pays attention
to our issues . . . we need a lot more legal support and begging and
pleading to get our issues addressed."
Biden then
explained to the crowd that he was out of time, and it hadn't been
in his plans to greet anyone. He waved goodbye one last time, before
getting into his limo and being whisked away. The twenty or so
people who got the chance to meet him were glad he took the detour
but one thing that was clear was that the Vice President was
certainly not prepared to run into a Sikh asking piercing questions
about an issue troubling the community.
Moments before
her tryst with Biden, Gurbakhash Kaur had cornered Governor Jon
Corzine, who too had come over to shake hands, asking what Obama and
Biden are doing about rising health education costs. Corzine briefly
mentioned a healthcare reform bill, but cut his handshaking short
when Kaur continued to question him about college debt.
13
May 2009
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