Helping the People
| Through all of its work,
the Sikh Coalition strives to remember that the work
must be related to improving the lives of real people.
Projects, press releases, speeches and actions that
do not relate to this fundamental premise fall short
of the Sikh ideal. From school kids to truckers to doctors,
we look back at a few of the people the Coalition helped
in 2002. |
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Tarnjit Singh
On September 11th, 2001, Taranjit Singh, a medical resident
at the Cleveland Clinic Hospital in Cleveland Ohio was accused
of celebrating the September 11th attacks with a colleague.
In reality, unaware of the attacks, he simply joked with
a co worker in his native language of Punjabi. After the
incident of celebrating the attacks was reported to the
hospital administration, Singh was then terminated from
his medical residency on September 19th, 2001.
Between September 11th and September 19th, Singh was psychologically
taunted and harassed on multiple fronts. The day of the
attacks, Cleveland Clinic nurses accused him of conspiring
with terrorists and suggested that people like Singh should
be killed. Two days later, during an FBI interrogation,
Singh was accused of calling in a bomb threat to the hospital,
shoving a nurse, and lying about his lack of involvement
with the terrorist attacks.
In addition, a local NBC affiliate sent out a news reporter
that harassed Singh on various issues. The reporter questioned
Singh about holding an employment H1B Visa, not having a
job, and then demanded to know why Singh was still in this
country. Cleveland Clinic Hospital's damaging attack on
his character caste Singh as an outsider, a foreigner, and
a terrorist.
Singh continued to communicate the same facts over and
over again to all parties involved. He was not celebrating
the September 11th attacks. Singh was speaking to a colleague
about an unrelated matter and at the time of this conversation
he had no knowledge of the attacks taking place. He feared
for his safety and that he would be deported from America.
His H1B Visa was based upon his employment in a residency
program.
The Sikh Coalition legal team initially responded to Singh's
case as a misunderstanding that could be worked out with
Singh's hospital authority. Once it was clear that Singh's
employment and immigration status were threatened, the legal
team wrote a letter to the hospital appealing his employment
termination and also found local counsel in Cleveland for
Singh. When all recourses with the hospital were exhausted,
and it became apparent they would not discuss the matter,
the Coalition filed a case with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act,
prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of race,
color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Filing Singh's case with the EEOC also serves as public
record and history for tracking discrimination cases against
Sikhs; the case is made public. This strategy proved successful
as Singh felt the EEOC was very receptive to his case and
took the time to listen to his side of the story.
After months of legal review, the EEOC determined that
Cleveland Clinic Hospital discriminated against Singh for
being a Sikh and has offered Singh financial compensation
with a non-disclosure agreement outlining that Singh would
not talk about this legal case as a discrimination case.
Singh, interested in justice and preventing this type of
discrimination from occurring to anyone, refused this offer
and is looking for a public acknowledgment of discrimination
and apology from the Cleveland Clinic Hospital. Singh currently
works as a medical resident at another hospital and is waiting
to hear the final outcome for this case. "Without the
Sikh Coalition I surely would have been deported from the
US in shame. It is because of the Coalition, I understand
and believe that justice in America is more than just empty
words. I hope to work with the Coalition to ensure others
do not have to face similar discrimination."
[top]
Bhavdeep Singh
Bhavdeep Singh arrived in America last year to pursue his
masters degree at University of Southern California. Soon
after settling in California he attended a wedding in Pennsylvania
in March, 2002. After the wedding, tired and excited from
his trip across America, he arrived at the airport to travel
home. As he approached the metal detector, he realized he
was carrying his kirpan. In order to cooperate with authorities,
he took off his kirpan and showed it to the security screener
before going through the metal detector. The security screener
called colleagues to the scene and within five minutes Bhavdeep
Singh was in handcuffs, on his way to jail.
After an hour in a holding cell, several hours in questioning,
and repeated turban searches, Bhavdeep was finally released
when authorities recognized that he posed no threat. His
flight however, had departed. When he arrived at the same
airport the following morning, he was refused admittance
due to the events of the previous day and was now considered
a "security threat". . Although airport officials
recognized that the matter had been a misunderstanding,
he was still barred from boarding his flight.
Still shaken by the events of the previous day, Bhavdeep
called a member of the Sikh Coalition. The Coalition immediately
contacted the airport and airline to clarify what had happened
in an attempt to secure passage for him, but received little
cooperation. Subsequently, the Coalition leveraged various
federal government contacts, developed over the previous
months, to support its efforts with the airline and airport.
Months of diligence in working with various government agencies
including the Department of Transportation (DOT), Transportation
Safety Administration (TSA) , and Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA), led to the Coalition successfully battling the fear,
ignorance and bureaucracy of the airport and airlines. Within
a few hours, the airline was forced to allow Bhavdeep to
board the plane and he returned safely to his home in California.
[top]
Menomonee Falls
v. Hargian Singh, Citation No. M-18047
Born in January of 1929, Hargian Singh taught Punjabi before
moving to the United States in 1975. With six children,
he cherished the freedoms and diversity within America.
Yet during the summer of 2002, Hargian Singh felt threatened
and afraid that those freedoms were disappearing. He was
given a citation by the Menomonee Falls Police Department
in Wisconsin for wearing the kirpan, a Sikh article of faith.
A letter was issued by The Sikh Coalition on behalf of Sirdar
Hargian Singh, along with educational material on the kirpan,
literature on the Sikh articles of faith, and legal precedents
involving kirpan cases. Due to the vigilance of the local
Wisconsin community, the judge found the charge to be humorous
and immediately dismissed the violation in a court action
on 8/29/02. The judge also apologized to Hargian Singh for
any inconvenience he endured. On the good news, Hargian
happily replied, "It made me ecstatic that the judge
dismissed my citation. I am proud to still freely wear my
kirpan."
[top]
New York v. Makhan
Singh, Docket No. 2001QN043375
While waiting to pick up a relative, Makhan Singh was stopped
and searched in the arrivals building of John F. Kennedy
airport by a New York City police officer on September 15,
2001. Singh was immediately arrested for wearing an one-foot
long kirpan openly over his clothing. To no avail, Singh
tried to explain to the officer that the kirpan is an article
of the Sikh faith and, as a Sikh, he is required to keep
the kirpan with him at all times. On November 8, 2001, after
meeting with The Sikh Coalition, the District Attorney's
office conceded that the kirpan is an article of faith for
the Sikhs and agreed to dismiss the case.
[top]
Tennessee v.
Charanjit Singh Dhadwal, Citation No. 609061F
Mr. Dhadwal, a resident of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada,
was stopped while driving his truck in Tennessee. A subsequent
search of his body revealed that he was carrying a kirpan.
Criminal charges for carrying a concealed weapon were instituted
against him. Sikh representatives spoke with the Knox County
General Sessions Court/Criminal Division prosecutor and
subsequently sent a letter discussing similar cases. The
prosecutor agreed the kirpan is a religious article and
dismissed all charges against Mr. Dhadwal.
[top]
v. Joginder
Singh
Ravinder Singh (Bhalla), an attorney representing The Sikh
Coalition, successfully defended Joginder Singh in Criminal
Court in Manhattan on Thursday, October 31. Joginder Singh
was arrested for wearing the kirpan and spent a night in
jail as a result. At the hearing, Ravinder Singh argued
that the kirpan is a Sikh article of faith and mandated
by Sikhi. The judge consequently dismissed the case.
[top]
Reaching out to the
future of America
In September 2002, Harpreet Singh, a local Wisconsin Sikh
activist, and Haramandeep Singh, Co-Director of Education
for The Sikh Coalition, organized a presentation at Templeton
Middle School in Sussex, Wisconsin to over 400 students
throughout the day. The presentations focused on general
principles and beliefs of Sikhism and the Sikh identity.
Many students gathered throughout day and even gave up
their option to have a free lunch and instead attended
the presentation. Haramandeep Singh asked the students
about their own background and many affirmed that they
were from different states and their parents or grandparents
from different countries. Many also described a variety
of religious backgrounds. He then asked the students to
guess where he was from and his religious background.
It was the rare student who was able to correctly guess
that Haramandeep Singh was raised in Chicago and he was
a Sikh. Many students thought he had a Middle Eastern
background and was Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.
This led into a presentation regarding main Sikh beliefs
and focused on the Sikh identity. The students were told
that most all men wearing turbans in the West are likely
Sikh. The articles of faith were described in detail and
the purpose for wearing them. Gender equality was reinforced
as a central tenet of the religion and the idea of a classless,
caste free, just society as being the ideal. Many students
were surprised to hear just how "down to earth"
the Sikh faith was and asked several relevant questions:
"How long is the turban?" "Do you tie it
everyday?" "What do you do to protect those
being hurt?" "How do you feel when people call
you names?" "Do women also wear the turban?"
This question was answered with Navpreet Kaur, unraveling
her turban and showing the length of her hair, her comb
to keep it tidy, and tying it up again for the audience.
This was a quite a highlight for the audience.
A small digital movie was shown highlighting the life
of a young Sikh boy growing up in California. Students
were amazed to see how similar his life and his daily
routine were compared to their own. "He is a great
basketball player!" "I like the car that he
drives." By the end of the presentation, the students
were impressed by the amount of material they learned
and many stated how much they enjoyed it. "When are
you all coming back?"
The presentations were given outstanding remarks and the
school district requested additional sessions for other
schools in the district.
Similar presentations over the course of the past year
have given birth to the Coalitions Sikhs in School
program. The Coalition hopes to reach out to schools across
the country to educate America's future on Sikhs and diversity.
To inquire about how to set a presentation in your area,
email education@sikhcoalition.org
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