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Sikh (SAYK) Americans, with their long beards and turbans, sometimes frighten and even enrage a certain number of New Yorkers. Ever since September 11, 2001 Sikhs report that they have been misunderstood and mischaracterized as terrorists. Attacks on the Sikh faith come in different forms, sometimes it's outright violence, sometimes it's institutional. More than six years after the World trade Center attacks, New York Sikhs are struggling to find their place in New York. Tristan Ahtone reports.
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Rajinder Singh Khalsa calls himself a priest. He's lived with his wife in Ozone Park, Queens for more than a dozen years. In 2004 he was on his way to dinner with a friend. They walked past the Villa Russo Risorante. Four men outside the restaurant told Rajinder to go back to his own country. Than they told him to remove his turban.
AX: RAJINDER
They were indicating my turban and asking me 'give me this dirty curtain' and 'remove this dirty curtain'.
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Khalsa refused. He was beat unconscious and some of the men responsible went back inside to the restaurant to the christening party they had been attending. After the attack, Khalsa had facial reconstructive surgery just so he could breath again.
AX: RAJINDER
I was very much confused: Because the people beat me, they were also religious, so if they are religious, they should respect at least the religious.
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Sikhism is a 500 year old religion from Punjab in the northern part of India. It's followers like Khalsa show their faith on the outside. They don't cut their hair or beards and they wear turbans. Since September 11th, these outward signs of faith have been mistakenly viewed as the dress code for terrorist groups like the Taliban or Al Qaida. Despite the brutal attack he endured, Khalsa is still a Sikh, and like other Sikhs, he must wear the articles of clothing that reflect his faith.
AX: RAJINDER
My religion says, if you are Sikh you has to cover the head, in respect of god. You see the Jewish people, they have skull cap in the respect of the God! The same we are, the way is different.
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While Singh Khalsa's attack is an extreme case, racism and discrimination against Sikhs has increased in the last seven years.
AX: NEHA SINGH
Physical assaults sort of peaked right after the attacks of 9/11.
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That's Neha Singh, advocacy director of the Sikh Coalition in New York. They advocate for Sikhs civil and human rights. She says New Yorkers of different ethnicities and religions face bias and physical attacks.
AX: NEHA SINGH
There's no real difference in the motivation for what happens to Sikh Americans and what might happen to other racial and ethnic groups, the big difference however is the large numbers by which it's happening in the Sikh community.
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According to a recent report by the Sikh Coalition, 41% of Sikhs in New York say they've been called derogatory names. Half of the city's Sikh children say they have been teased at school, and more report being abused verbally and physically.
Neha Singh says turban wearing Sikhs are at highest risk. Media portrayals of men in turbans don't help.
WOMEN
AX: NEHA SINGH
you rarely rarely see a turban on TV with a positive association, and that's despite the fact that, you know, Sikhs are a part of American society in all walks of life, we're contractors, we're cab drivers, we're business people, doctors, lawyers, just like everybody else.
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Nearly half of New York's 50,000 Sikhs are U.S. citizens and the Coalitions report says and many are long-term residents. And even U.S. born Sikhs like Sathari Singh face discrimination. Sathari's legal name is Kevin Harrington, he's Irish and he grew up Catholic in New York. Sathari was hired by the Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1981 and began driving subways a few years later. On the morning of September 11th he was driving his subway into Manhattan. Sathari remembers pulling into the Fulton station, one block from the world trade center. He heard loud noises coming from above ground.
AX: SATHARI SINGH
Like to me it sounded like a civil war reenactment, they have a whole bunch of canons go off, like a cannonade, and I felt this air pressure coming at me and then all the signals went red.
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The train froze and Sathari says there was no response from the transit authorities command center. He decided to get his passengers to safety. With the go-ahead from a supervisor in one of the tunnels, he backed the train into the Wall Street stop and evacuated people onto the platform, possibly saving the lives of all aboard. The next day he went back to work.
AX: SATHARI SINGH
The people who I saw later, some of the women hugged me and the men shook my hand, they were real happy that we were able to get out of there.
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Sathari still wore his turban to work despite growing hostilities toward anyone who appeared Muslim. Then came 2004.
AX: SATHARI SINGH
My supervisor called to his office in grand central and told me I couldn't work in the public eye if I wore a turban and they were taking me out of my job and my seniority and putting me in the yard.
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Sathari has filed discrimination charges against the MTA. He still wears his turban while driving trains and his case against the MTA is still pending. Sathari wants to create a future where Sikhs are accepted, especially when trying to find work.
AX: SATHARI SINGH
Civil service is a big place for Sikhs to work and that transit authority has lots of uniformed, blue collar jobs. And we want to make these jobs open to everybody regardless of their religion. If I had accepted the transit authority putting me in the yard, give up my rights as a union member, give up my rights as an employee, give up my rights as a person, I would've accepted second class citizenship and I would have participated in my own degradation, and that's not one of the things I do.
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And discrimination doesn't only happen inside the MTA. It happens in New York's schools too, Sikh students suffer harassment and so do teachers.
AMBI: AJEET UNLOCKS DOOR
AX: AJEET MATHARU
Here's my global studies classroom where I teach my 9th graders the world history.
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Twenty-five year old Ajeet Matharu's is a public school teacher at Prospect Heights High School in Brooklyn. He's a second generation American but in his is first year teaching, Matharu's instructor portrait was defaced with the word 'Osama' by an unknown student. In the hallways as students continued to call him 'Osama' or 'terrorist'. It bothered Matharu at first, but in the end, it only changed his teaching style.
AX: AJEET MATHARU
I've always tried to do my best to teach my students not only differences between Sikhs and other groups - we may wear turbans but we may be a different group from Muslims - I try to teach them that and I try to teach them more importantly, that just because someone's Muslim, someone wears a turban or someone's Arab or Indian or whatever, that doesn't mean someone is a terrorist.
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Matharu says students who know him don't disparage him. But he still deals with racism at school sometimes and outside of work.
AX: AJEET MATHARU
Especially after 9/11 I really noticed a heightening of these kinds of comments.
Have you ever thought about changing your faith at all as a result of any of this stuff?
Oh definitely not, I feel like especially ever since my adolescence, my Sikh identity is always been strengthened rather than weakened by these kinds of attacks.
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Despite the harassment he's endured, Matharu says most students accept him for who he is.
AX: AJEET MATHARU
Students are really definitely curious, they see my turban, my beard and I find that so many of them just want to know what that means. So, the students who react negatively in terms of racism or slurs tend to be a real real minority, most of my students are just so curious to know more.
AMBI: SCHOOL SOUND FADE OUT
AMBI: BRING UP NEIGHBORHOOD AMBI
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This is Ozone Park, the home of Rajinder Singh Kahlsa who was attacked by the men outside the restaurant. The Sikh community here is strong. There are six Gurdwara's - Sikh houses of worship - in the neighborhood and Sikhs can come to pray any time of the day or night.
AMBI: chanting of scripture
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Those who come to Gurdwara must do only one thing: cover their head in respect of god. For visitors who don't wear turbans, there's a box of colorful cloths available. This is important for western visitors to this temple, but grabbing one of the cloths can bring twinge of shame to Sikhs that have renounced their traditional dress like Kanwarjit Singh Rendhawa. The twenty-five year old is the only one in his family who works. A few years ago, he removed his turban, cut his hair and shaved.
AX:
Ever think about growing your hair back?
I'm just a little afraid. I have to make money my family is over here, I'm working for them, you know, what I can do. If I feel free I will, why not? I will.
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Rhendhawa is a limousine driver. He says when he wore his turban he was harassed and couldn't find work. He was forced to choose his religion or a career to support his family.
AX KANWARJIT:
I messed up my career already, turban not going to give me my food and money, but its give me respect and I want my respect also with my money and my hard work.
AMBI: STREET SOUNDS
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A van pulls up in front of the Gurdwara where Rendhawa is standing. Six, bare-foot Sikhs step out of the van. They are bringing the holy book to be blessed, and the street is suddenly filled with song and color.
AMBI: CHANTING
Men coming out of the temple wear turbans, but just as many leave without. The ones without are clean shaven with short hair. They're young, and on the street they look no different than anyone else.
Tristan Ahtone, Columbia Radio News.