February 22, 2005
Would you turn down a quarter million dollars?Issues
Here are two stories of anti-Sikh discrimination which I seem to have missed over the past couple of years (disclaimer: the attorney in both lawsuits is a friend). In ‘03, a software executive sued Delta Airlines after a flight attendant told passengers he was a potential terrorist:
Thomas began to harass [Hansdip] Bindra after he stood to retrieve a magazine. He contends that the attendant, who is white, told him that “here in America we have rules” and that “because of the situation in the Middle East, you have to keep a low profile.” Bindra, a native of India, said other passengers on the flight later told him that Thomas had warned them that “the man up front with the turban” might be “trouble” and that with no justification, she told them: “When I give you a signal, come help subdue him.”… Bindra said he and about a half-dozen other passengers on the flight filed written complaints about Thomas with the airline, but that none received a reply. [NJ Star-Ledger]
In ‘02, a turbaned Burger King franchise owner sued Fleet Bank for refusing a quarter million dollar deposit before 9/11. Interestingly, the New Jersey teller ordered to reject the customer is also desi:
… [Inderjeet Singh] Chowdhary contacted the branch over the phone after the bank advertised an attractive interest rate… for [a] certificate of deposit. Chowdhary said he spoke to a bank employee, Jaya Balasubramanian… On the appointed day, July 30 of [2001], Chowdhary claims to have visited the bank with all the documents he was required to produce. While Balasubramanian was processing the his application, Alicia E. Eagleston, the branch manager and a defendant in the case, called Balasubramanian aside. “When she returned, she looked visibly upset, and said I would not be permitted to open the account,” Chowdhary told News India-Times. He also claimed that Eagleston said, “We look at the customer and decide.” [News India-Times]
I’m sure Balasubramanian was thinking either a) ‘That’s cold, making me discriminate against a fellow desi’ or b) ‘There goes my commission.’
Fleet Bank was also accused of terminating Muslims’ accounts after 9/11 without cause. The bank settled with Chowdhary in ‘03 and pledged not to discriminate against Sikhs.
Previous posts on anti-Sikh discrimination: 1, 2, 3; and discrimination by airlines and cops.
manish on February 22, 2005 12:56 AM in Issues, Religion · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
Thanks for all the good work, Manish.
They could have anything under there! Bombs, guns, bombs with guns in them.
It's safety, man. SAFETY! How can you argue with *safety?* That's so unpatriotic.
I'm onna tell Ashcroft on you.
You know what Salil....
you're an idiot, go rot in hell. It's people like you who make the world the crappy place it is today. It's their religion and culture to wear turbans and if you have a problem with that i suggest you f**k your self.
After 9/11/01 america has hate for sikhs which not right. Sikhs did not have anything to do with the attack on america. Why don't all sikhs like me explain the difference between islam and sikhsm
I am proud to be a sikh
I'm glad I caught this post, I hadn't heard these stories before and I'm sure many still haven't.
Since all of the news links are broken, those interested can read this for more information about Mr. Chowdhary's settlement and this for the airline discrimination suit. Unfortunately, the Delta incident wasn't too be Mr. Bindra's last run-in with prejudice to make the news: just a few months, he was denied entrance to a brewery for not taking off his "headgear."
Sean: Salil's joking, mate. I know your heart's in the right place, but, on teh internets, sometimes it's better not to respond to (perceived) intolerant vitriol than with more of the same.
Simran: There are many Sikhs active in educating the public of the religion and it's similarities/differences with Islam. If you're in the Bay Area, please check out (I know, here I go again) the Spinning Wheel Film Festival at Stanford University this weekend. Regardless, I support you in doing your part to combat ignorance in whatever way you can.
Most Americans mistake Sikh's for muslims due to the one simple reason of Mr.Bin Laden and his turban. That the sad truth.
Sikh's make up about 20 % of the desi population in the US. So there is about 450,000 sikhs in America[0.15 % of the US population]. About least half of them live in the California,New York or New Jersey. Also most men of sikh background don't wear turbans so there are about between 50,000 turban wearing sikhs in America.
So in large part of America they have no idea of what a sikh is.
In Canada sikhs make up almost half of the desi population and there is about 500,000 sikhs in Canada and there are several sikhs MP and MLA in goverment. So people in Canada have a much higher knowledge of sikhism then in the United States.