Civil Rights | | Page 14

Sikh wedding ceremony (source: MrSikhNet)

VA Sikhs challenge marriage discrimination

December 21, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In a unique case of discrimination, Sikhs in Virginia are challenging a state law that fines non-clergy who perform wedding ceremonies: Four Sikh men are suing the state after they were charged $500 each to preside over weddings because the law only recognizes ordained ministers, like priests and rabbis, as having the power to wed people. However, Sikhs don’t have a clergy. Instead, anyone who can read and comprehend Sikh scriptures is qualified to perform marriages. That means a hefty […]

Categories: Civil Rights • Tags: American Civil Liberties Union, Anand Karaj, Duncan Getchell, Fairfax County, Ken Cuccinelli, Sikh wedding, Virginia

Jasjit Singh Jaggi serves as a member of the NYPD with his articles of faith intact, but only as a traffic officer, after winning his religious accommodation case in 2004. (source: New York City Commission on Human Rights)

It may take a lawsuit for the NYPD to allow Sikhs to serve freely

December 19, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

“There is no reason why the NYPD police officers can’t wear a turban and beard and do their job,” said [New York Assemblyman Dave Weprin] mentioning in particular that Sikhs’ beards [prevent] the use of gas masks is not true. “Sikhs can tie up their beards in a crop cut,” he said. …“They are not being as receptive to people that don’t look like them,” he said. — In the Gotham Gazette, New York Assemblyman Dave Weprin discusses the campaign […]

Categories: Civil Rights • Tags: Employment Discrimination, Gotham Gazette, Jasjit Singh Jaggi, Metropolitan Police Department, Metropolitan Transit Authority, MTA, New York Police Department, NYPD, religious accommodation, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Sikh Coalition, Workplace Discrimination

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Congregation at Sikh Religious Society of Chicago commemorates the passing of HR 1193 in Illinois (credit: SAAPRI)

IL South Asian community commemorates state anti-hate resolution

December 17, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On Sunday, the South Asian community in Chicago, Illinois, came together with local and state officials at the Sikh Religious Society of Chicago to commemorate the passing of HR 1193 by the Illinois House of Representatives, an anti-hate resolution that was a collaboration between the South Asian American Public Research Institute (SAAPRI), local groups and State Representative Daniel Biss, condemning recent hate crimes against Sikhs, Muslims and other South Asians (and specifically, the mass shooting by a white supremacist in […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: Chicago, Daniel Biss, HR 1193, Illinois, Illinois House of Representatives, Oak Creek, SAAPRI, Sikh Religious Society of Chicago, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, South Asian American Public Research Institute, Wisconsin

Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, Department of Justice Civil Rights Division

US Assistant Attorney General visits Oak Creek, WI

December 13, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Visiting the gurdwara, the overwhelming message I took back from the congregation is one of unity – a resolve to work together, with members of every faith to foster understanding, and to ensure that such tragic acts of violence are never repeated. — Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez of the Civil Rights Division of US Department of Justice, after his visit to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin last week. The Department of Justice has joined calls to have the FBI […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes • Tags: FBI, FBI Hate Crime Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, hate crimes, Oak Creek, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Thomas Perez, United States Assistant Attorney General, United States Department of Justice, United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Wisconsin

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Baltej Singh Dhillon (source: Whitterings)

Turban-wearing Sikh now to guard Queen of England

December 11, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In the United Kingdom, one Jatinderpal Singh Bhullar, a Sikh, became the first soldier to wear his turban instead of the traditional bearskin as a member of the Scots Guards at Buckingham Palace: LONDON — Britain’s Ministry of Defense says a Sikh soldier has become the first guardsman to parade outside Buckingham Palace while wearing his traditional turban. Fifty family members were on hand Tuesday as Guardsman Jatinderpal Singh Bhullar as he took part in the changing of the guard […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Picture of the Day • Tags: Baltej Singh Dhillon, bearskin, Buckingham Palace, Canada, Jatinderpal Singh Bhullar, RCMP, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Scots Guard, Stephen Harper, stetson, United Kingdom

Is it enough to “Be proud”?

December 5, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Nina Chanpreet Kaur provides an in depth contextual critique of the Kony 2012-like “Be Proud” media campaign, launched recently at the Sikh International Film Festival in New York by entrepreneur millionaire Gurbaksh Chahal in response to the mass murder of Sikhs in Oak Creek, Wisconsin: Truly empowering people and eliminating hate comes with massive, localized, collaborative efforts aligned with existing national efforts that are measurable, focused on skill and community building, and impact the day to day lives of communities. […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, TV/Movies • Tags: Be Proud Movement, Gurbaksh Chahal, hate crime, Kony 2012, Mass media, Nina Chanpreet Kaur, Oak Creek, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Wisconsin

"A Sikh youth holds a placard at an event in Manhattan to mourn the killing of six Sikh worshippers at a Wisconsin gurdwara. (PTI)"

Dilveer Singh Vahali writes in the LA Times about being called “terrorist”

November 30, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Dilveer Singh Vahali writes an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times in which he reflects on when he was subjected to “terrorist” epithets in public: I was on my way to lunch with one of the partners at a prestigious law firm when we both heard it: a random person on the street yelling at me, “Terrorist … hey, terrorist!” I was in the process of trying to secure a job. Like any other law school student, I just wanted […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Reflections • Tags: Dilveer Singh Vahali, Discrimination, Los Angeles Times

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Sikh student and teacher (Kulpreet Singh | About.com Sikhism)

Moving beyond tolerance in the classroom

November 27, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In an article published on the Not In Our Town blog, Amrit Kaur Sidhu, an intern with United Sikhs, relates personal experience to make the salient distinction between promoting diversity (“plurality”) and promoting pluralism — “the active engagement of plurality” — in the classroom: I realized that schools are the first institutions that must become a model of pluralism, in order for pluralism to seep out into the rest of society. Students are placed in a social setting with other […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Reflections • Tags: Amrit Kaur Sidhu, bullying, CREATE Wisconsin, Education, hate crimes, Navjot Kaur, Not In Our Town, Oak Creek, pluralism, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Wisconsin

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"Jurupa school board members on Monday, Nov. 19, discussed safety issues on campus, including a request by some Sikh students to bring ceremonial kirpans to school." (source: Press-Enterprise)

California school board allows Sikh students to wear kirpan, with restriction

November 27, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In southern California, the Board of the Jurupa Unified School District recently enacted a provision allowing Sikh students to carry a kirpan — a sword or blade that is an article of the Sikh faith — on its school campuses: Under the new policy, parents agree to sign a statement that requires the kirpan — a daggerlike object that is a sacred article of faith — to be worn under clothing, to have the blade dulled, to be soldered or […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Sikhism • Tags: California, Jurupa Unified School District, Jurupa Valley, Khalsa, Kirpan, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Category Archives: Civil Rights

VA Sikhs challenge marriage discrimination

It may take a lawsuit for the NYPD to allow Sikhs to serve freely

IL South Asian community commemorates state anti-hate resolution

US Assistant Attorney General visits Oak Creek, WI

Turban-wearing Sikh now to guard Queen of England

Is it enough to “Be proud”?

Dilveer Singh Vahali writes in the LA Times about being called “terrorist”

Moving beyond tolerance in the classroom

California school board allows Sikh students to wear kirpan, with restriction