67% of Sikh American children surveyed were bullied or harassed within the last school year and 31% have been threatened with physical violence or harm.  These numbers are staggering compared to national averages and an indication of the serious challenges that our children continue to endure on a regular basis.

— Jasjit Singh, Executive Director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), reports from a survey taken by SALDEF of Sikh American students in southern California. A similar disproportionate high rate of bullying of Sikh American students was also seen in the Bay Area in northern California, as reported by the Sikh Coalition in 2010, demonstrating the larger scale problem of this issue for Sikh children.

Read about SALDEF’s meeting this week with the US Secretary of Education on the topic of bullying here.