Modoc County Supervisor Loren “Shorty” Crabtree publicly apologized last week for his disparaging comments about Sikh turbans last month. From The Modoc Independent:

“As many of you are aware, during the April 12 Supervisor’s meeting, I made an inappropriate remark regarding Americans wearing turbans. After the meeting, I had a meeting with the American Sikh community and now understand that turbans have an important religious significance for Sikhs. The comments I made were hurtful and wrong, and I apologize for making the remarks. I was supposed to get a short DVD yesterday in the mail, but I never got it. If I get it, I’ll show it at the next meeting. Thank you.”

The original comment that Crabtree made was unfortunate.  While many public figures would have offered the disingenuous “I’m sorry if anyone was offended”, Crabtree deserves full credit for taking the time and effort to learn about Sikhs, recognize that his remark was inappropriate, and then publicly apologize for them.