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Is It only about the turban?
Turban
has become a Symbol of Multiculturalism in America
WSN Network
 Seattle: On Sunday, August 26,
2007, Dr. Sawraj Singh, Chairman of the Washington State Network for
Human Rights, shared his views with the congregation at Gurudwara
Singh Sabha Sahib Renton (Seattle) on the issue of harassing Sikhs
at the airports for wearing turbans. This was supposedly done for
security reasons. He said that this is not just an issue related to
the turban, but actually it is an issue for America to accept its
new multicultural identity. In a way, the turban has become a symbol
of multiculturalism in America.
He said that there are different concepts of the turban in the East
and the West. In the West, the turban is just a headdress. In the
West, whenever you go to a place and want to show respect, then you
remove your hat. In the East, the turban is representative of
culture, traditions, social respect, and in the Sikhs, the turban is
also a fundamental part of their identity. In the East, contrary to
the West, you cover your head as a mark of respect.
He said that America should start considering its cultural diversity
as its biggest asset because the different cultures can provide
concepts that can help to meet the challenges faced by western
society. The turban is an integral part of the Sikh religion and can
help to impart knowledge about this unique religion and its great
philosophy.
We have just found out that Mother Teresa, who can be considered to
be the greatest Christian of our times, had written that she was
being tormented by feelings of doubt and duality about God. One can
imagine how many ordinary people will have similar feelings. The
message of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs,
promotes unity of mankind and helps to clear all feelings of doubt
and duality by emphasizing that there is only one eternal reality
which has created all other realities.
A campaign was started in the Gurudwara Sahib to sign a petition to
the government to reconsider its stand on the turban as far as
security as the airports is concerned. We sincerely hope that the
turban will get the due respect and recognition it deserves.
Irish police to review turban
ban
LONDON: After the Irish Sikhs
pointed out that police forces elsewhere allow the turban, Irish
Police Commissioner Noel Conroy has agreed to meet Sikh community
leaders to discuss the ban on turbans imposed on officers. The move
comes after a Sikh trainee officer was told that he could not wear
the turban on duty.
Members of Ireland's Sikh community are hoping to convince police to
change the ruling, but the BBC reported the police as saying that
religious symbols could lead the public to believe that they are not
acting "impartially". The man, who had already passed three stages
of his training, was told of the ban before starting the fourth - in
which he would have been working with members of the public.
The Republic's police force, known as An Garda Siochana, requires
all officers to wear standard issue uniform - including a cap. A
statement issued on behalf of An Garda said that the public may view
variations of the uniform as an indication that the force was not
"policing all sections of society equally".
President of the Irish Sikh Council, Harpreet Singh, told BBC Radio
Five Live that the turban was "a mandatory article of faith that a
Sikh cannot take off".
He argued that the rules meant that An Garda were "asking the whole
Sikh community to stay out of the police force". Philip Watt, from
the Irish Republic's National Consultative Committee on Racism and
Interculturalism, also told BBC Radio that he thought the police had
got it wrong.
SALDEF meets TSA on impact of
turban screening issue
The Sikh American Legal Defense
and Education Fund (SALDEF) representatives met with the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other officials
from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to discuss the impact
on Sikh Americans of the recently implemented changes to security
screening procedures at the Nation’s airports.
SALDEF expressed the Sikh American community’s outrage regarding the
discriminatory nature of the new procedure. SALDEF further expressed
its disappointment in the lack of any consultation with the Sikh
American community prior to finalizing and rolling out the new
screening procedures.
“We are deeply troubled at the potentially marginalizing effects
this policy revision has on the Sikh American community,” said Board
Chairman Manjit Singh. “While the need for securing our nation’s
airports is undeniably important, the new screening procedures
directly “profile” the Sikh American community and other communities
of faith."
Australian cops finally act in turban incident
The Australian police is acting
on the somplaint by a Sikh and the cops in Sydney have circulated
CCTV images of the two suspects who had ripped off the Sikh man's
turban in a bus four months ago. A Sikh group had taken up the
incident with the local MP.
Inderjeet Singh Dhaliwal was assaulted by two young men while
travelling to work March 31 at Seven Hills. The men had fled the
scene. Initially, the police was taking the incident as one of theft
and someone even enquired about the cost of the turban. "Ripping the
turban from someone's head is very offensive. It is like taking a
part of your body. It should be taken very seriously," Dhaliwal
said.
Bay Area Sikhs Oppose TSA
Rules on Headwear
SAN FRANCISCO: Changes to federal
airport screening guidelines that allow routine searches of turbans
unfairly single out Sikhs who wear their traditional religious
attire, according to a local group that has written the Department
of Homeland Security to protest.
Public search can be as humiliating as a strip search, said J.P.
Singh, a past president of the Sikh Center of San Francisco. “The
turban is an article of faith,” he told KCBS’s Holly Quan.
“We have long hair which are (sic) uncut and the hair are supposed
to be covered at all times. Asking somebody to take the head gear
off is like asking the woman to take her blouse off in public. It's
that offensive,” he said. A petition circulating since the rules
went into affect has collected about 2,000 signatures, according to
the San Jose Mercury News.
Akalis take up US turban
screening issue with PM
JALANDHAR: The Shiromani Akali
Dal (SAD) on Tuesday said it has taken up with Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh the issue of tight screening measures in American
airports where Sikhs will have to remove their turbans.
"Since the Prime Minister himself is a Sikh, he should lodge strong
protest against the new screening laws," SAD's working president
Sukhbir Badal told reporters here.
He said India should apprise the US authorities about the sanctity
of a turban to a Sikh.
On the ban on wearing turbans in France, Badal said the SAD had
taken up the issue many times with the Centre "but unfortunately it
was still to be resolved".
"SAD has limitations on international issues as it is only the Union
government that can officially take up the issues with the
authorities concerned," he said. Badal said the SAD would support
the proposed private bill for giving separate identity to the Sikh
religion and even lobby for its passage.
Sikh Coalition Opposes New TSA Turban
Profiling Policy
The Sikh Coalition, the nation's
largest Sikh civil rights organization, strongly opposes new
headwear screening procedures put in place by the Transportation
Security Administration on August 4, 2007. TSA officials told the
Sikh Coalition that the new Standard Operating Procedure includes a
guidance recommending that America's 43,000 airport screeners pull
aside turban-wearing travelers for secondary screening, based solely
on their headwear.
The turban is the only form of religious garb specifically
identified by the TSA as an example of headwear that could lead to
secondary screening at security checkpoints. Other examples include
cowboy hats and berets. The TSA's policy accounts for no difference
between the turban, a religious
requirement, and fashion headwear.
"Telling screeners to search people in turbans is the same as
telling them to search black people or Arabs or Muslims. The policy
allows screeners to single out travelers on the basis of their
religion. The message this sends to the public is that people who
wear turbans are dangerous," said Amardeep
Singh, Executive Director of the Sikh Coalition. "That attitude
challenges the spirit of religious pluralism on which our country
was built."
29 August, 2007
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