Civil Rights | | Page 22

US attorney wants Sikhs to report hate crimes

February 14, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

“Especially after you learn about all that, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to discriminate against the Sikh community,” Haag said. “We have one of the most tolerant communities in the United States right here in the Bay Area, so if that discrimination is happening here, that’s really disturbing.” — US Attorney Melinda Haag, after learning about Sikhism while meeting with Bay Area Sikhs at the Gurdwara in El Sobrante, California on Sunday. Haag’s meeting was to encourage […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, News Bits • Tags: California, El Sobrante, FBI, FBI Hate Crime Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Melinda Haag, United States Attorney

The Sikh Coalition frisks the TSA

February 3, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The Sikh Coalition, a national Sikh American advocacy organization, has obtained and released an internal TSA memo that suggests that the TSA has the ability to monitor the extent of racial profiling occurring in their screening procedures at airports. As the Sikh Coalition describes, ethnic profiling is of particular concern among Sikhs in this country: Since 2007, Sikh travelers have reported that they are routinely selected for secondary screening at some American airports, even after clearing advanced imaging technology machines without […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Reports/Studies • Tags: Airport, Airport security, Racial profiling, Sikh Coalition, Transportation Security Administration, TSA

Culture, Law and the unfulfilled American promise

December 22, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Rajdeep Singh, of the Sikh Coalition, writes in the New York Times: Sikh Americans, in particular, continue to face relentless challenges in the post-9/11 environment. Worse still, American law affords inadequate protection to Sikhs against religious discrimination and, in some cases, reflects deep-seated stereotypes about American identity. For Sikhs, it is indeed a two-fold challenge: there are both cultural and legal hurdles that we face in this country that prevents Sikhs from experiencing full equality. These hurdles are not in […]

Categories: Civil Rights • Tags: freedom of religion, Rajdeep Singh, Religious discrimination

According to Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends”, the Sikhs of Stockton, CA are killing Christmas

December 8, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The hosts of Fox News Channel’s nationally-airing morning program, Fox & Friends, went on a diatribe about the policy of a school in Stockton, California to maintain a non-denominational holiday celebration within its classrooms. One of the hosts, Gretchen Carlson, went on an especially disdainful rant and cited the presence of Stockton’s Gurdwara and Sikh population, the oldest in America, as the reason why the Christian aspect of the season was being downplayed by the school. From News Hounds: Reading […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, News Bits, TV/Movies • Tags: California, Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, Gretchen Carlson, Stockton

Sikh stabbed in Fresno, CA: Can hate crimes be like trees in a forest?

December 6, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On Sunday night, a 56-year-old Sikh man was stabbed at the Yosemite International Airport in Fresno, California: Fresno police said Mitchell Dufur, 26, stabbed the Sikh man in his 50s in the upper torso Sunday evening near the security checkpoint. No words were exchanged before the attack. The man was standing with his translator when the attack occurred. It is unclear whether this attack on the Sikh man occurred before or after the TSA security checkpoint. The victim was treated […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, News Bits • Tags: California, Fresno, hate crime, Mitchell Dufur, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Yosemite International Airport

The impact of 1907’s Bellingham Riots on civil rights today

November 30, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) recently posted to their website a documentary entitled “Present In All That We Do“, that discusses the Bellingham Riots and the impact today of those attacks on migrant Sikh and Indian laborers in Washington State in 1907: Present in All That We Do (2007) is a 58 minute-long documentary that connects the 1907 “Anti-Hindu” riot in Bellingham, Washington to contemporary struggles for immigrant rights in Whatcom County. Written by Andrew Hedden and Ian […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Resources • Tags: "Washington, Bellingham, Bellingham riots, Present In All That We Do, SAADA, South Asian American Digital Archive

Rick Santorum endorses profiling and workplace religious freedom

November 23, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Rick Santorum is one of the candidates trying to secure the Republican nomination for the 2012 Presidential election. His performance in last night’s debate on national security was largely unremarkable (if you go by post-debate media coverage), except for two statements he made. One of those statements was to support racial profiling of Muslims: “Obviously Muslims would be someone you’d look at, absolutely,” Santorum said. “Those are the folks who … the radical Muslims are the people that are committing […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Politics • Tags: Herman Cain, Muslim, Racial profiling, Republican, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul

Religious rights defended in New York

November 16, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

“In the past 20 years, New York state has become much more pluralistic. We have more diversity in religious practices,” Schneiderman said at an Anti-Defamation League luncheon Wednesday in New York City. “The growth of our Hassidic and other Jewish communities, of the number of observant Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, has been staggering, and frankly, we need to adjust things in the office of the New York State Attorney General to deal with this new, more pluralistic reality.” — […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, CDCR, Eric Schneiderman, John Kerry, New York, New York City, Religious Rights Initiative, Trilochan Singh Oberoi, Workplace Religious Freedom Act

State of California settles with Trilochan Singh Oberoi, but maintains discriminatory policies

October 27, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In 2005, despite meeting all other requirements, Trilochan Singh Oberoi was refused a job as a correctional officer by the State of California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), unless he shaved his beard and removed his turban. The decision of the CDCR was ruled as discriminatory by the State Personnel Board, but the State of California still refused to hire Trilochan Singh. Consequently, Trilochan Singh filed a suit against the CDCR. Today, it was announced that the State has […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: California, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, CDCR, Corrections officer, employement discrimination, State Personnel Board, Trilochan Singh Oberoi

Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Category Archives: Civil Rights