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.