Sunday, June 15, 2008

Sikhs in New Jersey

"To wear a turban in America — even in a state that has absorbed as
many waves of immigration as New Jersey has — is to subject yourself
to judgment by strangers, not all of whom have warm and fuzzy feelings
about diversity.

"You get these looks all the time, especially after Sept. 11," said
Rajinder Singh, 57, who holds two doctorates, works as a chemist for a
pharmaceutical company, has never cut his hair, following the
requirement of his faith, and wears a turban. "You could see people —
their lips inside their car — that this person is swearing at me."

Muslims have absorbed much discrimination in the United States in
recent years, but also caught in the crossfire have been Sikhs,
members of a religious minority from India whose men happen to wear a
similar head covering, and who have endured similar suspicions since
the terrorist attacks and the subsequent wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan," says a touching article in the New York Times about
Sikhs in the Tristate area.

Read the full article at --
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/15colnj.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

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