Civil Rights | American Turban

"President Barack Obama speaks to members of the Muslim-American community at the Islamic Society of Baltimore." (Source: ThinkProgress.org)

Obama addresses cultural attitudes around Muslims

February 4, 2016 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Over his two terms, President Obama has recognized the Sikh community (and seems comfortable in doing so) perhaps more than any other US president in history. In his recent speech at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, he makes reference to the Sikh American community as victims of anti-Islamic bigotry in the United States. However, it was lacking in specific proposals to help counter America’s Islamophobia.

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Interfaith, Politics • Tags: Baltimore, Barack Obama, Islamophobia, Maryland, President of the United States

"The U.S. government has moved quietly and aggressively to prevent undocumented Indians from entering the United States, many of whom are Sikhs fleeing political repression or economic collapse at home." (Source: Buzzfeed News)

The journey of Punjab’s issues to America’s front door

February 3, 2016 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

David Noriega and John Templon write in Buzzfeed News about detention of Punjabi Sikhs at US borders who are seeking asylum. This well-written and comprehensive article connects the dots to the legacy of issues plaguing Punjab and its people today.

Categories: 1984, Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: 1984, 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms, Buta Singh, Buzzfeed News, David Noriega, farmer suicides, Immigration, John Templon, Operation Blue Star, Punjab police, trafficking

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Protesters are escorted out of a U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump campaign event in Muscatine, Iowa, United States, January 24, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young - RTX23T3Q

The accidental benevolence of Donald Trump

January 26, 2016 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

While in 2012, the Republican Party offered sympathy and support to the Sikh American community, by 2016, this sentiment has ostensibly been disregarded — and even reversed — by the dominating Republican candidate for President who openly disparages a Sikh article of faith. And, there has been little tangible response from the Republican Party or the other Republican candidates to this incident or other similar protests. One wonders how or why this shift occurred.

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, News Bits, Politics • Tags: Arashdeep Singh, Donald Trump, Iowa, Ishwar Singh, Muscatine, Nikki Haley, Oak Creek, Republican National Convention, Republican Party, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, xenophobia

The case for “mistaken identity”

January 20, 2016 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In an article published in Lawfare, law professor Dawinder S. Sidhu offers an coincidental counterpoint to Monday’s post about the concept of “mistaken identity” and its use to explain hate crimes in which Sikh Americans are victims. Professor Sidhu finds that dismissing mistaken identity arguments is problematic and counter-productive to addressing hate crimes affecting the Sikh and Muslim communities in the post-9/11, post-Paris and post-San Bernardino environment.

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: Dawinder S. Sidhu, hate crimes, Islamophobia, Lawfare, mistaken identity

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"A new problem for Uncle Sam." Political cartoon c. 1910 (source: Echoes of Freedom)

Let’s expunge “mistaken identity” from our vocabulary, first

January 18, 2016 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

“Mistaken identity” has become the de facto explanation for hate crimes perpetrated against members of the Sikh American community, the logic being that Sikhs are being targeted because their articles of faith — particularly the turban, men’s beard, and brown skin — are confused by attackers for identifiers of Muslims, the latter of whom are being confused as terrorists. Both law enforcement and Sikh community leaders have defaulted to this explanation, pointing to post-9/11 backlash as the causal motivation for […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: Donald Trump, hate crimes, John McCain, mistaken identity, Uncle Sam, White supremacy, xenophobia

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The doctor will see your race now

August 28, 2015 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In a recent episode of healthcare of a family member, we observed a healthcare provider introducing herself to the patient, announcing herself in a loud, pronounced voice. “DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?” She said this very loudly this in a hospital room after our family member just had surgery and was in a vulnerable state. It was not something we appreciated, especially since our family member has lived in the west in upwards of 40 years and was well-versed in English. It […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Reports/Studies • Tags: diversity training, Health care, healthcare, racial bias, Racism, unconscious bias

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recently published its 2015 Annual Report. (Source: USCIRF.)

USCIRF 2015 Annual Report addresses religious freedom of Sikhs in India

July 9, 2015 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In its 2015 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) continued to express concern about the state of religious freedom in India, particularly after the election of current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Placing India in its “Tier 2” category (which the USCIRF defines as “countries where the violations engaged in or tolerated by the government are serious and are characterized by at least one of the elements of the ‘systematic, ongoing, and […]

Categories: 1984, Civil Rights, Politics • Tags: 1984 anti-Sikh riots, anti-Sikh genocide, anti-Sikh pogroms

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"Dixiecrats resurfaced the 'Southern Cross' flag as a political symbol around the time President Harry Truman supported efforts to end lynchings and desegregate the military in 1948. During that same period, the Ku Klux Klan began using the flag more widely." (Source: CNN.

On being “one of them”

July 9, 2015 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On Medium, in an address after the mass murder of nine black congregants at the hands of a white supremacist in Charleston, South Carolina, writer John Metta talks about the difficulty in having conversations about race: Despite what the Charleston Massacre makes things look like, people are dying not because individuals are racist, but because individuals are helping support a racist system by wanting to protect their own non-racist self beliefs. People are dying because we are supporting a racist system […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Reflections • Tags: Charleston, hate crimes, John Metta, Ku Klux Klan, mass shooting, Medium, Oak Creek, Racism, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, South Carolina, White supremacy, Wisconsin

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Cover of Kevin Kruse's book"One Nation Under God." (Photo source: NPR)

The history of American Christianity and American human rights

July 8, 2015 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On The Immanent Frame, Gene Zubovich provides an interesting overview of the history of America’s recognition of human rights, specifically by way of the Cold War era (post- World War II until the early 1990s) American Christian reaction (and the tensions within) to communist movements in Russia and China: In 1948, the year that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, three debates were most salient in the American context about the boundaries between the religious and the secular. […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Literature • Tags: capitalism, Cold War, Communism, Gene Zubovich, human rights, Kevin Kruse