So as you know, the TSA quietly changed its screening guidelines in August and Sikhs were being searched–some were being asked to remove their turbans–without ever setting off a metal detector or wand. This was a big step backward from the consistent screening policies implemented by the TSA after 9/11. Anyway, the new policy, as jointly announced by Sikh Coalition and SALDEF (with verbatim, time-synchronized press releases to boot)
means:

1. Turbans will not be listed in any TSA guidance as an item that should be subject to additional screening.
2. The TSA recognized that security screeners should not be allowed to touch a Sikh’s turban indiscriminately, and should seek explicit consent before doing so, if no alarm has been set off.
3. By accommodating religious head coverings, the TSA has acknowledged the distinction between secular and religious garb, including the Sikh turban.
4. Before the Thanksgiving 2007 travel season, all 43,000 TSA screeners will undergo the following mandatory training about Sikhs:
   1. View On Common Ground (see previous post) Sikh American Cultural Awareness Training for Law Enforcement.
   2. Receive copies of the Common Sikh American Head Coverings poster.

I’ve attached both Press Releases after the jump.
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Radio Salaam Namaste aired a program where two DJ’s made derogatory remarks about Sikhs and encouraged listeners to call in and do the same. SALDEF was alerted, and has secured an apology from the radio program that airs every hour. Like everything, this is a net positive for the Sikh community, and we should applaud SALDEF’s hard work. But in this particular case, it seems like an apology doesn’t really cut it.

As pointed out by several posts on the Sikhnet Discussion forums (see posts by Jennifer Reed and Sutinder Singh), Don Imus referred to women on the Rutgers basketball team as “nappy headed ho’s” earlier this year. CBS fired Imus for this remark. So how did this happen? The African American community, civil rights groups, and womens groups got together, voiced their opinion and Imus lost his job. Or, from a simpler angle, we can say the power of, and the respect given to, the African American community meant that Don had to lose his job.

The case of the two DJ’s is no different. The DJ’s got on air, made disparaging remarks about Sikhs, and even encouraged listeners to call in and do the same — much more egregious behavior than Don Imus’s remark in passing.

Yet the outcomes are different. Don lost his job, while the radio DJ’s can hide behind an “I’m sorry, we promise we won’t do it again.” Again, SALDEF and other Sikh orgs should be applauded for their hard work, but in this case, we appear too soft. If we’re too nice to call for the dismissal of the DJ’s (which we deserve), how about a two-week suspension of the DJ’s? What’s your opinion?

There’s a bit more to the story: the FCC has strict rules about on air behavior, and even has a formal complaint filing process. SALDEF release after the jump.

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It’s a shame when people think they can denigrate the sacred religious articles of others and get away with it. Please sign the SALDEF sponsored petition below and get Al Rantel to apologize. The last public figure to make anti-Sikh remarks of this level was a gentleman named John Cooksey, and the Pluralism Project has a nice writeup on that.  Would Rantel make the same remarks about Nuns or about Jews?  Please sign the petition and read on.

Sign the Petition

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Wow, this is great news. Congrats to Tarun Singh, the winner of a $10,000 Sikh scholarship from the Sikh Scholarship Foundation. The fact that we have a Sikh Scholarship Foundation that actually awards scholarship is amazing, and the winner, Tarun, is excellent. Though I’ve never met him, my brief correspondence with him has been rewarding in itself.

Let’s not forget how great an achievement this is. Zillions of small groups award scholarships for various reasons in the US, and are usually backed by very large funds and endowments. And now we have a foundation dedicated to awarding budding Sikh youth that are on the path to success by society’s standards as well as Sikhi’s standards. Yes!

If I were in school now I’d apply for this scholarship!

Congrats again Tarun Singh! The full press release from the Sikh Scholarship Foundation is after the jump.

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Earlier this month I had the distinct honor and pleasure of participating in the National Catholic-Sikh Dialogue organized by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the World Sikh Council. It’s a multi-year effort designed to deepen understanding between the two communities. As one of the ten Sikh participants I gained a great deal of knowledge and reaffirmed a bunch of truths I hold dear. I also made some new, awesome Catholic friends!

I once again saw that people of faith have a great deal in common, and that interfaith dialogue is itself part of the spiritual practice of being a Sikh. Through dialogue, you learn a great deal about yourself and gain some perspective on your faith. One of the things I appreciated about Catholicism was the discipline that Catholics keep around “orders.” There are many different orders of Catholics — like Franciscans, Dominicans, Paulists, and others. Some orders may be monks and nuns, while others live in the world. But they all seem to get along in a very organized and disciplined way. They all agree to a core set of beliefs and practices, and then they have slight differences in focus. I was impressed by that. I imagine Sikhs would have the same thing–our unifying feature would be the minimum discipline imposed by the Rehat Maryada (5K’s, etc) and then the ‘orders’ could form around different things like kirtan, sewa, and exercise (:)). Sometimes it seems that we need to get along better as Sikhs, and the Catholics who’ve been around for about 2000 years have figured out how to do it.

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This is an Op-Ed piece written by the Sikh Coalition.

As a kid growing up, I was always seen as the “genie” — you know, the dude with a turban that comes out of a lamp. Thank you Disney. A stereotype, but a benign one. Unfortunately as Sikh kids grow up today, they are labeled by their peers as “Osama” (thanks CNN) so I can only imagine what it’s like to be a fifth grader with a Sikh turban. Hopefully efforts like those highlighted in the editorial will ensure our schools give all students and equal chance at education.

A Free Ride for Bullies

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Following on the heels of another press release by the Sikh Coalition (please read it), I wanted to clarify why the current pat-down policy is unfair. First and foremost, Sikhs are for security, just like everyone else. If the TSA were patting down every single other passenger, then yes, I could imagine we’d have less of an argument to object to turban pat-downs. But that’s not the case today. Right now, the TSA is just patting down turbans–while letting others walk right by. If I could be hiding something ‘up there’ then just about every other passenger could be hiding something as well, and deserves a full pat down. Doesn’t that sound fair to you? If it does not, and you believe Sikhs should be singled out, that’s profiling. Also removing a Sikh’s turban is like removing an article of clothing–like a shirt or blouse–for example.

So the Sikh Coalition has started a petition on the recent change in TSA policies. You can find and sign it here:

Stop Religious Profiling in US Airports

I’m entry #1512:

All people should be treated with respect. Let’s say you have two people, both dressed like everyday Americans, one of them wearing a turban. Both pass the metal detector test. With the current policy, the person with the turban gets a pat down, and the other person just walks. What’s up with that? It’s patently unfair and singles out Sikhs, who make up something like 98% of all people wearing turbans in the United States.

I hope I’m just misunderstanding the new policy, because what I’ve written above sounds really unfair.

As you might have guessed, I’m a turban wearing Sikh and a frequent air traveler. After 9/11, Sikhs like myself were subjected to heightened scrutiny just because of the way we looked. Granted, none of the hijackers wore turbans, but the television images of Osama’s headdress stuck in everyone’s mind. Because of this profiling, Sikhs experienced the brunt of the so-called backlash and hate crimes following 9/11, and Sikhs like myself faced lots of stares everywhere, especially at the airport.

Security screeners were no exception to the profiling. In many cases, Sikhs missed flights because of unnecessarily harsh security screenings or were not allowed to board flights outright. Various Sikh organizations, including the Sikh Coalition and the Sikh American Legal Defense Fund quickly responded by working with Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta in October 2001. The newly formed Transportation Security Administration came out with a set of guidelines for screening Sikhs that basically said, “pat-down the turban only if it doesn’t clear a metal detector check.”

I’m happy to report that, in the nearly six years since 9/11 I’ve been flying around America and the world I’ve never had serious problems or delays in airport security screenings, and I’ve never had my turban touched. I follow all the rules, always take off my belt and shoes, and coast right through all the time. I’ve honestly been impressed by the professionalism of the TSA after they became aware of Sikh beliefs.

Unfortunately, that’s about to change. Apparently, the TSA has quietly issued a new set of guidelines, that boils down to allowing pat-downs of turbans at the discretion of the TSA screener.

The turban to me, is a sacred article of my faith. I typically don’t let anyone touch it. Sure, the old policy made sense — if I trigger a metal-detecting wand, yeah, I guess the TSA has a good reason to pat-down my turban. But now it’s at the discretion of the screener? And what causes them to decide to pat-down my turban? Because I look suspicious? Have we just returned to the pre-9/11 days of ignorance–instead of the respect and professionalism we’ve seen since then?

Fortunately, two major Sikh organizations are on top of this issue. They’re working with the TSA and since they’ve already been in close contact with the TSA in the past, I’m confident that we’ll reach a reasonable resolution to this issue. For now, the Coalition and SALDEF have created some handy guides for Sikh air travelers like myself. I’ll be flying over Labor Day weekend, and I’ll let you know how it goes. Links:

Sikh Coalition Press Release

Sikh Coalition Sikh Traveler’s Guide:

SALDEF Sikh Traveler’s Guide:

Celebrating the 300th Anniversary of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib’s guruship is no small matter. The Sikh Community in the United States has reached a level that warrants a grand-scale celebration. We need something big. Something real, real big. How about a National Kirtan Darbar and Convention? Here’s how it would work.

• WSC and partner organizations rent out the largest venue possible, like a convention center or stadium.
• On Saturday, October 18, 2008 from 6pm – 12am, Ragi Jatha’s from all over the world perform amazing Kirtan and inspire the Sangat in attendance, over 50,000 strong.
• The event is a grand affair—Sikhs fly in from around the country and world to attend. The following Sunday would feature a gurdwara program and convention—where exhibitors and Sikh organizations could show off their work and build support for Sikh American and international causes. We’d make a weekend of it.

We need an event like this to really put the Khalsa on the map. It’s actually not very different from events we’ve already organized. There was the Khalsa March in Washington DC in 1999 which drew thousands, and there are the yearly festivities in Los Angeles that feature the Guru Granth Sahib being transported by helicopter. Vancouver has a two nagar kirtans that draw about 70,000 people each–so I think we should have no problem organizing an absolutely grand event in the States.

I say it’s grand, but we need to remember that other communities organize events like this all the time. You’ve seen many a packed concert hall on television—and many times these events are religious concerts organized by other faiths. There’s no reason we can’t do this—it’s just a matter of getting the sangat excited about the idea.

As a community we have reached a point where resources should no longer be a problem. It’s time to graduate from regional events and create a truly national celebration for the weekend of October 18 next year. What do you think?