Holding Members of Congress Accountable on Sikh Issues
Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that a bipartisan group of 105 Members of Congress sent a letter urging the Department of Defense to end a presumptive ban on devout Sikhs who want to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.  Over the past several years, civil rights group, The Sikh Coalition, has been...
Quebec proposes another ban on religious garb (off the soccer field)
Quebec is at it again. Just a few months after the Quebec Soccer Federation reversed its ban on turbans and other religious headwear on the field after a whole lot of public outcry, officials in Quebec have introduced a proposal to ban “conspicuous religious symbols” from public sector workplaces....
Dreadlocks, Turbans, and Rollercoaster Racism
Living in Brooklyn, New York City as a turban-wearing Sikh, I attract plenty of negative attention from random strangers as well as the cops, which I’ve written about at length.  Fortunately, I also get some love and respect from time to time as I walk or ride my bike in my neighborhood in central...
NYC transit system’s “turban-branding” policy defeated
On the morning September 11, 2001, long time train operator Sat Hari Singh (aka Kevin Harrington) was driving the 4 train towards lower Manhattan when news of the attacks came in.  He quickly directed the train in reverse, leading all his morning commuters to safety.  The Metropolitan Transit Authority...
Burqa ban crosses the Atlantic
The legal banning of the burqa and niqab has once again been in the headlines this last week, but this time beyond Europe, in Canada (or as Tanmit from G.N.E. called it last week at Lahir, “America’s pagh”). Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney, known...
NYC Passes Law to Ban Workplace Religious Discrimination
NYC Sikhs speak out against the Transit Authority's religious discrimination in 2009 This morning, the New York City Council voted unanimously to pass the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (Int. 632-A), a bill  that will strengthen the city’s human rights law that protects employees from religious...
Incarceration & Religious Freedom: A Sikh Story from Behind Bars
A few years ago I was putting up some flyers on street poles and bulletin boards in Williamsburg, Brooklyn promoting an upcoming concert for my band.  If you’re from New York City, you know Williamsburg is a neighborhood covered with concert flyers and band logos, and the home of dozens of music...
French Niqab Ban in Action
The controversial new French law that bans Muslim women from wearing the niqab, or full-face veil, went into effect today and was met with resistance in Paris.  The New York Times reports: The police detained two fully veiled women at a small protest outside the Notre Dame cathedral in central Paris,...
Liberation or Racism?
The French government is at it again.  France’s lower house just passed a law that would make it illegal for women to wear the full Islamic veil (burqa or niqab) in public.  It would fine women 150 euros for not complying.   Sundari posted on this issue back in February, and now this attack...
California Assemblyman Introduces Bill to Protect the Kirpan
Assemblyman Warren Furutani (D-Long Beach) has introduced a new bill requiring awareness trainings and instruction on how to approach Sikhs for California’s law enforcement agencies and officers. If passed, California, which is home to the oldest Sikh gurdwara in the U.S. (Stockton) and one of...