Sacramento, California TV channel News10 brings us this security footage of a serial thief – nicknamed the “KISS Bandit” on account of the mask he wears – being handily thrown out of a convenience store by an elderly Sikh man. Uncle would have none of it! The robber was apparently armed, so thankfully no one was hurt.
Categories: News Bits, Picture of the Day • Tags: California, KISS Bandit, Sacramento
It was not long ago that I came across the following on Twitter: BC it often does RT @DawudWalid: Minorities in America carry sad burden of feeling that one misstep of one of their own tars the whole group — ANNA ⚓ JOHN (@suitablegirl) December 20, 2011 I agreed with it then, and am reminded of it now as I came across the story of a Sikh cab driver in New York who was arrested on charges of rape (among […]
Categories: News Bits • Tags: Gurmeet Singh, New York, New York Post, rape
After his election to the position of Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia by his fellow city councilors, Satyendra Singh Huja reflects: “I can’t think of a Sikh guy getting elected in many other communities,” Huja said. “There aren’t many Sikhs in Charlottesville… So I obviously didn’t get elected because of my religion. I got elected because I could be of service.” This is an important learning. There is an authenticity in this Sikh man who performed his job for decades in […]
Categories: News Bits, Politics • Tags: Charlottesville, Satyendra Singh Huja, Virginia
After a turbaned Sikh became the president of Hoboken, New Jersey’s city council, the City Council in Charlottesville, Virginia has voted in longtime resident and city planner Satyendra Singh Huja as their mayor for the next two years. This is another ground-breaking accomplishment for Sikh Americans, whose acceptance in this country has often been challenged by those ignorant of our physical appearance and articles of faith. When he retired from his position in City Hall in 2004, Satyendra Singh described […]
Categories: News Bits, Politics • Tags: Charlottesville, James Madison, Satyendra Singh Huja, Thomas Jefferson, Virginia
The organization UNITED SIKHS provides an update on the identity of the Sikh who was stabbed at the airport in Fresno, California last Sunday as 56-year-0ld Anup Singh, a preacher who resides in the United Kingdom. They also report the description of the attack by an eyewitness: UNITED SIKHS team spoke to a Fresno resident Bakhtawar Singh, an eyewitness to this fearsome incident who had gone to drop the victim, Anup Singh. Bhaktawar Singh said, “This young man came forward […]
Categories: Hate Crimes, News Bits • Tags: Anup Singh, CAIR, Council of American-Islamic Relations, Fresno, hate crime, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, United Sikhs
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
From the Sikh Coalition, we learn that Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi (who, last year, along with Tejdeep Singh Rattan successfully gained exemptions to serve in the US Army with their articles of faith intact), has been awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Afghanistan: In support of the award, an official recommendation from Major Kalsi’s superiors cites his resuscitation back to life of two patients who were clinically dead on arrival; his “expert” emergency care of over 750 soldiers and […]
Categories: News Bits • Tags: Bronze Star Medal, Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi, Tejdeep Singh Rattan, United States, US Army
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
Via Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Beast, we learn that those opposed to the emerging and growing use of marijuana at the turn of the 20th century in America used the Sikh immigrants to California in 1910 as their earliest scapegoats: In a remarkable letter to [architect of US narcotics policy Hamilton Wright], dated July 2, 1911, [California Board of Pharmacy member Henry Finger] urged that the Conference take up the cannabis issue: “Within the last year we in California […]
Categories: News Bits • Tags: Immigration, marijuana, Sikh diaspora
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