SAJAforum

DESI NY: Roundup of recent South Asian stories

Because most of the SAJAforum bloggers are based in and around NYC, we end up relying too much on the New York Times and end up talking too much about events taking places in NYC.

Hey, non-NYers: Please help us change all this by sending us guest posts or becoming a member of our team (write to our editor, WNYC's Arun Venugopal, arunvenu[at]gmail.com).

Meanwhile, here are some recent NYC stories we haven't noted yet.

In Tense Times, Sikhs in Queens Find Respite in a Communal Meal - NYTimes.com via kwout

NYT: Joseph Huff-Hannon wrote about how Sikhs in Queens are worrying about prejudice:

From the red-tiled kitchen to the vast dining area, conversations in Punjabi ricocheted from gossip about families to subjects like forthcoming trips to India and the large number of foreclosures in this working-class neighborhood of tidy homes in southern central Queens.

In recent months, though, conversations at the temple have focused increasingly on prejudice against the city’s estimated 50,000 Sikhs, largely because the dastaar, the signature bolt of cloth that Sikh men and some women wrap around their hair, suggests to some people that the wearers are Islamic radicals.

Elephant-shaped Ganesh growth cured my ills, Queens man says via kwout

COMEDY: Narinder Singh's comic cause, in Newsweek

Narinder Singh has a piece in Newsweek on how he took to the comedy circuit to change perceptions about Sikhism. From "My Turn: Standing up for the Truth":

I began doing stand-up to educate my fellow Americans about my religion. I wanted to show that Sikhs were not fanatical Muslims. I laced jokes with facts conveying that 99 percent of people with turbans in America were Sikhs, that Sikhism started in India 500 years ago and was now the fifth largest religion in the world. We believed in one God and equality for all, regardless of race, color, gender, religion and caste. But I was not funny.

I started reading books on stand-up comedy. After performing on each new-talent night, I stayed till the end to watch other comics and studied the audience to see how each age group reacted differently. At home I watched professional comedians on Comedy Central for hours and changed my material, making it more biting and provocative.  <snip>

I now wanted to show the entire audience that Indians, Muslims or brown people in general were affable and moderate. Because I received my first couple of threats from Sikhs, I had to convince myself that my fellow Sikhs were in fact also moderate. But it felt strangely exciting reading the verbal barbs posted on my first YouTube clip: I was having an impact.

An impact perhaps, but judging from the article, not necessarily the funny kind. A sampling:

FILM: Sikh Film Festival & Heritage Gala

From a press release from the Sikh Art & Film Foundation:

Celebrate the rich Heritage, Traditions and Culture of Sikhs and the Asian immigrant experience through a diverse mix of independent Documentaries, Short and Feature Films
at the 5th Annual Sikh Film Festival 2008 on Saturday, October 4, 2008, 10 am to 12 Midnight at the Asia Society on Park Avenue in New York City.

Headlining the phenomenal collection of 16 Films from across the globe is the Feature Presentation and New York Premiere of the critically acclaimed film - Ocean of Pearls (USA) directed by Dr. Sarab Singh Neelam.<snip>

The Documentary Session has 4 powerful films covering the wide spectrum of current social issues to historical art and traditions of Punjabis in South Asia. The PBS Independent Lens featured A Dream in Doubt (USA) directed by Tami Yeager profiles the violent aftermath of 9/11 where Sikhs were singled out because of their turbans and beards, while Baljit Sangra's Warrior Boyz (Canada) takes an in-depth look at the South Asian gangs in Metro Vancouver. Emmy Award Winner Sikhs in America (USA) directed by Niall McKay and Marissa Aroy shows how Sikhs maintain their cultural traditions while also participating in the American dream. Finally, Navdeep Singh Kandola's Pahelwani (India) shot in West (Pakistan) and East (India) Punjab traces the history and traditions of the dying art of Punjabi wrestling.

See the full press release and contact info below. Post your comments, please.

DOCUMENTARY: A new campaign for "Divided We Fall," on violence against Sikhs

Among the aftershocks of 9/11, a Sikh man was killed in a fatal hate crime, confused for a person of Middle Eastern descent because of his turban and beard. South Asians reeled as pictures of Balbir Singh Sodhi flashed across television screens. But this was just the first of many cases.

In 2001, 20-year-old Valarie Kaur, a third-generation Sikh American started the journey that would become the award-winning documentary, Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath.

With her camera and cousin, she traveled to Sikh and Muslim communities, speaking to victims affected by hate crimes throughout the nation. She spoke with a Sikh man chased through Manhattan as the towers crumbled. She visited an elderly Sikh man whose wounds from being beaten with a baseball bat had not yet healed. Her concluding interview was with Balbir Singh Sodhi’s widow in India. who spoke of the love she still felt for American people.

Director Sharat Raju stepped into the picture in 2005 with his film crew. New footage, including interviews with lawyers, scholars and legislators was added, according to the film’s Web site. Kaur's blog highlights her tour to promote her film as well as discussions at schools and communities.

This month, seven years after Sodhi’s death, two years after the doc's 2006 premiere, a campaign set out to spark “50 screenings, 50 dialogues." The campaign organizers provided the film, promotional materials and dialogue topics to a number of participating communities.

Toward the end of the film, Kaur’s comical cousin Sonny turns the camera and asks her what message she had about the Sikh turban and her film.

She answered: “So other people don’t look at the turban and see fear, hatred, something laughable, something less than human,” she said. “So people don’t look at the turban and see an enemy where I see a brother.”

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And here's from a transcribed excerpt of a CNN segment addressing anti-Sikh violence after 9/11:

BROOKE ANDERSON: Days after 9/11 a Sikh man in Arizona was shot to death by a man who thought he was an Arab. In 2003 this Sikh man in New York was beaten by a crowd of white men who taunted him with anti- Arab slurs.

RELIGION: Questioning Faith at Schools

How difficult is it to uphold one's faith in a foreign land? The answers may vary.

However, at places where one's faith, religion or race is a minority, discriminations can't be discarded.

According to a story  in the London Times, 14-year-old Sikh teenager, Sarika Watkins-Singh,was excluded from school for breaking a “no jewellery” (ie., "no jewelry") rule because she refused to remove the wrist bangle or kara, which is central to her faith.

Sarika, of mixed Welsh and Punjabi origin, of Cwmbach, near Aberdare, was at first taught in isolation and eventually excluded for refusing to take off the bangle in defiance of the school’s policy, which prohibits the wearing of any jewellery other than a wrist watch and plain ear studs.

As we've seen and heard, religious symbols have been banned in educational institutions around the globe. One of the prominent moves has been the banning of Islamic head-scarves and other religious symbols from French schools in 2004. Read the story.

Similar incidents have taken plain the U.K., and the most controversial cases have involved Muslims, the Guardian reports.

More from the Guardian:

In 2006 a primary school teacher, Aishah Azmi, lost her case for discrimination at an employment tribunal after she was dismissed for refusing to remove her veil in the classroom.

WORKPLACE: Former Sikh employee sues Disney World, citing discrimination

A Florida musician who worked for Disney World contends that he was fired because the “Disney look” does not include a beard and a turban.

Sukhbir Channa, a 24-year-old trumpet player, worked at Disney World from late 2005 to early 2006.  In a lawsuit filed against Disney last week he claimed he was dismissed from his job because of his beard and turban. The lawsuit also says Channa reapplied for the job the following year, but was not rehired because of his facial hair.

Channa discussed the case at a Tampa news conference earlier this week.  According to the Orlando Sentinel:

[Channa] is seeking $1 million in damages, class-action status for the lawsuit, and a court order to prevent "further discrimination against Sikh employees and prospective employees."

"It was very insulting to be told I was a great trumpet player, I was qualified for the gig and a strong asset, but my looks still prohibited me from anything that involved me being seen by the public," Channa said.

"This is my career. This is what I do for a living. This is what my passion is," he said.   

The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) is representing Channa in the lawsuit.  In a press release posted on SALDEF’s website, chairman Manjit Singh said:

The Walt Disney World Company is widely regarded as the iconic American company. It is shameful for Disney to claim that a person doesn't have the 'Disney Look' because it implies that Sikhs are not sufficiently American.

A Disney spokeswoman told the Sentinel that Channa never reapplied for a position in 2006 and that the company does not discriminate against Sikhs.

"We value and respect diversity in our cast members and treat each request [for an accommodation] individually," spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said. "The type of accommodation varies with the type of request, job and location."

You can watch a WTVJ video story about this, including soundbites from Channa.

What do you think?  Post your comments below.

CRIME: Sikh student attacked in Queens

June 6, 2008: New York City Council Member John Liu (left) accompanies Jagmohan Singh Premi (third from left), a student at Richmond Hill High School, to a press conference organized by Sikh Coalition in New York. Premi allegedly became the victim of racially motivated hate crime because of his beard and turban. The city and state Officials called for action from Department of Education to protect Sikh children. Also in the picture, Pritpal Singh Premi (right), father of the student. PHOTO: Jay Mandal/On Assignment

Jagmohan Singh Premi, 18, a Sikh boy at Richmond Hill High School in Queens, New York, was allegedly attacked by a 15-year-old student last Tuesday. Premi’s attacker, who tried to remove his patka (small turban) before punching him in the face, had allegedly harassed him on several occasions prior to this act of violence.  From India Abroad:

Premi suffered an orbital fracture and bruising during the incident, which led to the arrest of his 15-year-old attacker who has been charged with felony assault and harassment.

The classmate had reportedly pulled Premi's beard and called him 'dirty' and a 'terrorist' for months in their English as a second language class.

According to The Sikh Coalition, Premi wasn’t the first student to face hate crime against Sikh children at Richmond Hill High. They found that more than half of all Sikh students at the school who responded to a survey had been harassed at school. From the Coalition’s press release:

The Coalition has documented harassment of Sikh children specifically at Richmond Hill High School since June of 2007 when we released our report "Hatred in the Hallways" on bias against Sikh school children in New York City.   On July 16, 2007, the Coalition directly raised the issue of anti-Sikh harassment at Richmond Hill High School at a meeting with Schools Chancellor Joel Klein in materials submitted to the Chancellor and his staff at that meeting.

Here's Schools Chancellor Joel Klein’s reaction and full text of his statement, regarding Premi's attacks from ABC 7 Eyewitness News. (You can also watch their video):

SIKHS: Golf Digest apologizes for depiction of Guru Arjun Dev Ji

According to SALDEF--the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund--the editor-in-chief and chairman of Golf Digest magazine, Jerry Tarde, has issued an apology to the Sikh community for using the image of Guru Arjun Dev Ji in its May 2008 edition. The item showed him as a "golfing guru," holding a golf club and offering advice. From a SALDEF press release:

In a written communication sent to SALDEF, Mr. Tarde stated, "Our editors regret this mistake and have learned an important lesson. Thank you for accepting our apology." Golf Digest has assented to issue a public apology to the Sikh community in the August issue of the magazine which will come out in July as asked by hundreds of community members. In addition, Golf Digest agreed to SALDEF's demand to stop the use of the image in their magazine or web site in the future.

The printed apology in the August 2008 edition of Golf Digest will read as follows:

"It has been brought to our attention that an illustration in the May issue of Golf Digest inadvertently depicted a golfing character resembling an image  of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, who is a revered religious figure in Sikhism. This was not our intent. We apologize for the use and for any offense to the Sikh community."

The issue was brought to SALDEF's attention by a Sikh blogger based in Washington DC, who did a detailed analysis of the imagery and scanned the image we used above. You can also see the entire pages in Golf Digest where the item ran. Earlier, SALDEF had organized a petition (now closed), calling for people to express their "displeasure" about the image:

SIKHS: San Francisco airport judged worst for turbaned travelers

Sunita Sohrabji of India-West newspaper has this report on San Francisco airport and its dubious distinction of being the worst airport in the nation for Sikh travelers. Here's how it begins:

Prabhjot Singh, vice president of marketing at Computer Associates, has been pulled aside for a second screening on each of the nine times he has traveled out of San Francisco International Airport in the past five months.

Singh, who wears a turban, said he is subjected to a head-wear search every time he leaves his local airport. “I definitely feel I’m being profiled,” he told India-West.

“It makes people wonder ‘what did this guy do,’” said Singh, 30, who has lived in the U.S. since he was 10. “The people who watch this happening are definitely getting the impression that people wearing turbans are suspect,” he said.

The Sikh Coalition issued a report card earlier this month citing San Francisco as the worst airport in the nation for turbaned travelers. The Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based civil rights organization, received 80 complaints of secondary headwear searches between Dec. 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008. More than one-third of those incidents occurred at SFO.

See our earlier coverage on the issue, and read the rest of Sohrabji's article below. She interviewed Neha Singh of the Sikh Coalition, as well as other Sikhs who feel singled out at San Francisco airport. She also spoke to the Transportation Security Administration, which "attributed the larger number of complaints from San Francisco to the large number of Sikhs living in the Bay Area."

DESI SPOTTING: NYC Sikh Day Parade

A scene from the 2008 NYC Sikh Day Parade on April 26, 2008. The parade starts at Broadway and 41st Street and ends at Madison Avenue Park on 24th Street (seen here). PHOTO: Jay Mandal/On Assignment
More on the event, which celebrates the Baisakhi spring festival, at this link.