Civil Rights | | Page 23

SALDEF campaigns for support of End Racial Profiling Act

October 20, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Many people would have received a notice from SALDEF (Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund) asking to support the passing of Senate bill 1670 – End Racial Profiling Act of 2011. Stand up against Racial Profiling! Tell your Senators to vote for the End Racial Profiling Act NOW! http://t.co/wuULZJrk — SALDEF (@SALDEF) October 20, 2011 SALDEF provides information about the bill and provides an easy way to contact your relevant senators to ask them to support the bill. The bill has been introducted […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits, Politics • Tags: Ben Cardin, Dick Durbin, End Racial Profiling Act, John Kerry, Racial profiling, SALDEF, Senate, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Workplace Religious Freedom Act, WRFA

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Can’t find a job? Perhaps your name isn’t English enough

October 20, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Sikhs often suffer workplace discrimination as a result of maintaining their religious articles of faith – particularly the turban, uncut hair or the kirpan (sword). In many of these cases, qualified Sikhs are not hired or are asked to remove these items in order to qualify for a job even when these articles of faith do not interfere with job requirements. However, in employment, such discrimination isn’t always so obvious, and can occur long before an employer has even seen the candidate. A […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Reports/Studies • Tags: Canada, Employment Discrimination, English language, Language proficiency, microaggression, Simon Fraser University, United States

“Terror” does not equal “Turban”

July 28, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

It amazes me how quickly and easily the media points to the turban when acts of terror are committed across the globe, even when the individuals who performed these acts do not themselves wear a turban. In the case of Norway’s horrendous attack, the perpetrator was a cleancut, white male. There was one person involved who does wear a turban: a young Sikh woman, who witnessed the shooting and was lucky to escape from the killer’s rampage. And yet, the conversation in the media would […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, News Bits • Tags: Canada, Cape Breton Post, Muslim, Oslo, Racial profiling, Terrorism

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TSA, USA cont’d

July 14, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

A recent update on the Sikh Coalition’s Twitter feed suggested that perhaps things had changed with the United States’ Transportation Security Administration (the TSA): SikhCo Program Director experiences NO 2ndary screening of turban at JFK airport. Sign of change? Skeptical. #racialprofiling #sikhcoalition — Sikh Coalition (@sikh_coalition) June 24, 2011 Their skepticism is justified.

Categories: Civil Rights • Tags: Air travel, Airport security, Sikh Coalition, Transportation Security Administration, TSA

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Questioning multi-culturalism: Ditching the car because of a flat tire

July 7, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

An Op-Ed piece by Kenan Malik that was published in the New York Times proposes that multi-culturalism, as it implemented in England, is a failure: The real question is not how people like Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the 7/7 bombers, came to be radicalized, but why so many young men, who by all accounts are intelligent, articulate and integrated, come to find this violent, reactionary ideology so attractive. To answer it, we need to look not at extremist […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Interfaith • Tags: 7/7, England, Kenan Malik, London, Multiculturalism, New York Times

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Southern California ACLU recognizes law firm for pro bono work on behalf of Sikh rights

June 17, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The law firm Alston & Bird has been awarded the 2011 Religious Freedom Award by Southern California’s chapter of the ACLU: “Alston & Bird was pleased to assist the ACLU in this important case to protect religious freedom in the California prison system. This settlement, approved by the court, will protect not just the right of one individual to practice his faith while in prison, but the rights of those to follow,” said Jonathan Gordon, Alston & Bird Los Angeles […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: ACLU, Alston & Bird, American Civil Liberties Union, California, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Cassandra Hooks, CDCR, Jonathan Gordon, Leib Lerner, Religious Freedom Award, Sukhjinder Singh Basra

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Sikh’s rights protected in California prisons

June 10, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

As I wrote about three months ago, the United States Department of Justice filed a legal suit against the State of California for violating the civil rights of Sikh inmate Sukhjinder Singh Basra – a Canadian citizen serving time for a drug-related offense – at a state prison in San Luis Obispo. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was enforcing a policy that required inmates to shave their facial hair. As uncut hair is a religious article of faith for […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union, California, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, prison, Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, San Luis Obispo, Sikh Coalition, Sukhjinder Singh Basra, United States Department of Justice

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What Would You Do? Turban-wearing Applicant Rejected

Dissociating the turban from its negative connotations

May 10, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

For the first time, I watched ABC’s “What Would You Do?” last Friday night, solely because they featured a scenario in which a turban-wearing Sikh (portrayed by an actor) was being denied a job in a restaurant unless he agreed to remove his “head garb”. You can view the episode at ABC’s website. The show is certainly not a scientific poll, and we only know what the show wants us to see. However, it was interesting to note how various people in the restaurant […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Reflections, TV/Movies • Tags: "What Would You Do?", Employment Discrimination, Religious discrimination, Workplace Discrimination

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Tonight at 9 PM, a Sikh will be discriminated against

May 6, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Tonight, on ABC at 9 PM, the TV show “What Would You Do? ” addresses the following scenario: A young woman applies for a job as a waitress at a diner and is told the position is hers, on one condition: She can’t wear her Muslim headscarf while she works. “It’s not part of what we do,” says the manager. “It makes a statement that we don’t want to make here.” Is this simply a businessman enforcing his employee dress code, […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Events, TV/Movies • Tags: "What Would You Do?", ABC, Employment Discrimination, Religious discrimination, Workplace Discrimination

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Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Category Archives: Civil Rights

SALDEF campaigns for support of End Racial Profiling Act

Can’t find a job? Perhaps your name isn’t English enough

“Terror” does not equal “Turban”

TSA, USA cont’d

Questioning multi-culturalism: Ditching the car because of a flat tire

Southern California ACLU recognizes law firm for pro bono work on behalf of Sikh rights

Sikh’s rights protected in California prisons

Dissociating the turban from its negative connotations

Tonight at 9 PM, a Sikh will be discriminated against