Last week the ACLU sent a letter (full text) to top officials of the Mississippi Department of Transportation complaining about mistreatment of a Sikh truck driver by DOT officers who told him that his kirpan was illegal. One officer taunted him, declaring that Sikhs are depraved and terrorists. Ultimately he was arrested for failing to obey an officer's command. As reported by an ACLU press release, when the truck driver returned to Mississippi for his court date, the judge ordered him ejected from the courtroom for wearing a turban, calling it a "rag," and delayed his hearing to the end of the day. All of this generated a Justice Department investigation and a revision of county non-discrimination policy. The ACLU also plans to file an ethics complaint against the judge.
Meanwhile, according to Arutz Sheva yesterday, the Sikh Coalition has asked major U.S. retailers to remove from their shelves Halloween masks of Osama bin-Laden wearing a turban, fearing that Sikhs are being stereotyped as terrorists because of their turbans. The action comes after last weekend's attack in New York on Columbia University faculty member Dr. Prabhjot Singh who was surrounded by a large group of teens shouting "get Osama" and "terrorist". [Thanks to Jack Levey for the lead.]
