Bay Area Civil Rights Report 2010

The bullying-hate crime link and the role of schools

September 17, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

“When we think of how we might prevent the tragedy that occurred at the Sikh gurudwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, we must look to the harassment endured by Sikh-American children in schools,” said Assistant Attorney General, Thomas E Perez, at a bullying prevention conference in California. He was referring to the August 5 attack on a Wisconsin gurudwara in which six Sikh worshippers were killed. “Here in the Bay area, according to a 2010 survey, three quarters of Sikh-American boys […]

Categories: Hate Crimes, Reflections, Reports/Studies • Tags: Bay Area Civil Rights Report 2010, bullying, California, Education, hate crimes, SB1540, Sikh Coalition, Texas, Thomas Perez

Growing up Sikh: the lingering effects of bullying

June 21, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

A recent article in the US News & World Report talks about the lifelong impact of bullying on children: “Being the target of a bully involves real suffering,” Dr. Earlene Strayhorn, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Loyola University, said in a university news release. “The constant stress of physical assaults, threats, coercion and intimidation can take a heavy toll on a child’s psyche over time. The abuse may end at some point but the psychological, developmental, social and emotional […]

Categories: News Bits, Reflections, Reports/Studies • Tags: Bay Area Civil Rights Report 2010, bullying, Global Sikh Civil & Human Rights Report, SALDEF, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Sikh Coalition, United Sikhs, United States, US News & World Report

Top 5 Sikh American Stories of 2010

January 4, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Happy New Year! The end of 2010 has spawned all kinds of retrospectives on that year, mostly in the form of “Top 10” lists of various categories. An interesting exercise is to consider what were the top five stories related to Sikh Americans during 2010. Why the top five and not the top ten? The number five has a special significance to Sikhs: Sikhism originated in Punjab (now in India and Pakistan), which is the land of “five rivers” (“Punj” means “five”, “ab” means “river” or “water”). […]

Categories: Reflections • Tags: Airport security, AIT machines, Barack Obama, Bay Area Civil Rights Report 2010, Darbar Sahib, Golden Temple, Guru Singh, Harmandir Sahib, Kamaldeep Singh Kalsi, Outsourced, Sikh Coalition, Simran Lamba, Tejdeep Singh Rattan, Top 5 Sikh American Stories, TSA, US Army

Protecting and strengthening our children

November 29, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The recent study released by the Sikh Coalition about the discrimination and bullying that Sikh children have faced in Bay Area schools highlights what these children go through: One middle school boy profiled in the report is Harrjit Singh [sic], who didn’t want to say what school he attends. On Sept. 11 this year, Harjit said kids called him a terrorist. And during a P.E. class, somebody ripped off his patka and said, “I’m sorry, I just wanted to see […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits, Reports/Studies • Tags: Bay area, Bay Area Civil Rights Report 2010, bullying, Jakara camp, San Francisco, Sikh children, Sikh Coalition, Yuba City

Does it only get worse from here?

November 19, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The Bay Area is reputed to be one of the most liberal places to live in the country. It also contains one of the larger Sikh populations in the United States. On that context, the Sikh Coalition‘s recently released study, Bay Area Civil Rights Report 2010, provides some sobering data: 69% of Sikh boys who wear patkas or dastaars [both are types of turbans] have been harassed in school 2 out of 3 Sikh boys in middle school report being […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Reports/Studies • Tags: Bay area, Bay Area Civil Rights Report 2010, California, San Francisco, Sikh Coalition