Judge Rimes' Sikh Slur In Mississippi Court, 'Remove That Rag,' Prompts ACLU Letter On Behalf Of Jagjeet Singh
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Judge Rimes' Sikh Slur In Mississippi Court, 'Remove That Rag,' Prompts ACLU Letter On Behalf Of Jagjeet Singh
Judge Rimes' Sikh Slur In Mississippi Court, 'Remove That Rag,' Prompts ACLU Letter On Behalf Of Jagjeet Singh
Huffington Post
The ACLU wrote a letter on Wednesday to decry the shocking treatment of Jagjeet Singh, a practicing Sikh, at the hands of the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Pike County Justice Court.
Singh was pulled over in January for a flat tire, and was harassed by the state's Department of Transportation officers who wrongly assumed that his kirpan, a small spiritual sword that is a religious article for Sikhs, was illegal. They taunted him as a "terrorist" and arrested him for refusing to obey "an officer's lawful command," reports the ACLU.
On his March 26th court date, Judge Aubrey Rimes of the Pike County Justice Court ejected him from the courtroom stating that Singh would not be allowed to re-enter unless he removed "that rag" from his head.
Singh's attorney confirmed that Rimes expelled him due to his turban. However, Singh's faith mandates the covering and he believes that to unwrap it in public would be both sacrilegious and shameful.
A subsequent Department of Justice investigation prompted the Pike County Board of Supervisors to revise the County's non-discrimination policy to say that religious discrimination includes, "requiring an individual to remove a head covering or denying that individual access to a County office, building, program or activity because they are wearing a head covering, if that head covering is worn for religious reasons."
American Sikhs often encounter misunderstandings about their faith, and a Stanford University survey published earlier this month revealed that though almost all turban-wearers in America are Sikh, about 70% of Americans misidentify turban-wearers as Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or members of the Shinto faith. The survey also discovered that nearly half of Americans think that Sikhism is a sect of Islam, and more associate the turban with Osama bin Laden rather than with the Muslim and Sikh alternative.
The letter comes on the heels of yet another incident of Sikh harassment, as Columbia professor Dr. Prabhjot Singh was brutally attacked in Harlem on Saturday night, beaten by a hate mob who called him "terrorist," and "Osama."
Huffington Post
The ACLU wrote a letter on Wednesday to decry the shocking treatment of Jagjeet Singh, a practicing Sikh, at the hands of the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Pike County Justice Court.
Singh was pulled over in January for a flat tire, and was harassed by the state's Department of Transportation officers who wrongly assumed that his kirpan, a small spiritual sword that is a religious article for Sikhs, was illegal. They taunted him as a "terrorist" and arrested him for refusing to obey "an officer's lawful command," reports the ACLU.
On his March 26th court date, Judge Aubrey Rimes of the Pike County Justice Court ejected him from the courtroom stating that Singh would not be allowed to re-enter unless he removed "that rag" from his head.
Singh's attorney confirmed that Rimes expelled him due to his turban. However, Singh's faith mandates the covering and he believes that to unwrap it in public would be both sacrilegious and shameful.
A subsequent Department of Justice investigation prompted the Pike County Board of Supervisors to revise the County's non-discrimination policy to say that religious discrimination includes, "requiring an individual to remove a head covering or denying that individual access to a County office, building, program or activity because they are wearing a head covering, if that head covering is worn for religious reasons."
American Sikhs often encounter misunderstandings about their faith, and a Stanford University survey published earlier this month revealed that though almost all turban-wearers in America are Sikh, about 70% of Americans misidentify turban-wearers as Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or members of the Shinto faith. The survey also discovered that nearly half of Americans think that Sikhism is a sect of Islam, and more associate the turban with Osama bin Laden rather than with the Muslim and Sikh alternative.
The letter comes on the heels of yet another incident of Sikh harassment, as Columbia professor Dr. Prabhjot Singh was brutally attacked in Harlem on Saturday night, beaten by a hate mob who called him "terrorist," and "Osama."
Bryant- Admin
- Posts : 1452
Join date : 2012-01-28
Age : 35
Location : John Day, Oregon
Re: Judge Rimes' Sikh Slur In Mississippi Court, 'Remove That Rag,' Prompts ACLU Letter On Behalf Of Jagjeet Singh
Read about this. Pretty disgraceful. Why i put no morefaith in judges than anyone else. Or cops for that matter. Power corrupts
Sir Pun- Posts : 1621
Join date : 2013-01-30
Re: Judge Rimes' Sikh Slur In Mississippi Court, 'Remove That Rag,' Prompts ACLU Letter On Behalf Of Jagjeet Singh
The ACLU should be busy these days. Civil Liberties in a fledgling progressive police state, as we are now, are always under attack. CHP just beat a truck driver into a coma just cause he wanted to read the ticket before signing the ticket.
Marconius- Posts : 1800
Join date : 2012-01-31
Age : 54
Location : Opelousas Louisiana
Re: Judge Rimes' Sikh Slur In Mississippi Court, 'Remove That Rag,' Prompts ACLU Letter On Behalf Of Jagjeet Singh
Didn't see that. Do you mind posting the story?Marconius wrote:The ACLU should be busy these days. Civil Liberties in a fledgling progressive police state, as we are now, are always under attack. CHP just beat a truck driver into a coma just cause he wanted to read the ticket before signing the ticket.
Bryant- Admin
- Posts : 1452
Join date : 2012-01-28
Age : 35
Location : John Day, Oregon
Re: Judge Rimes' Sikh Slur In Mississippi Court, 'Remove That Rag,' Prompts ACLU Letter On Behalf Of Jagjeet Singh
I hadn't heard about this either. But I did find this...
Wow...how convenient.
It’s been almost two years since Olegs Kozacenko nearly lost his life during an encounter with two California Highway Patrol officers over a traffic ticket. Still, nearly two years later neither the CHP nor the state Attorney General’s office will confirm whether or not the officers involved were ever disciplined for their actions, citing the law officer’s bill of rights.
But that answer didn’t satisfy Kozacenko. Now the 58-year-old truck driver has filed suit against the state of California and the Highway Patrol officers he says injured him. The purpose of the suit, he says, to find what he calls justice.
Dashboard cameras on the highway patrol cars of CHP supervisors responding to the scene show Kozacenko’s truck and Murrill and Sherman’s SUV patrol cars after the truck driver had been whisked away to the hospital.
But according to the CHP there is no dash cam video of the actual incident. In response to a public records request the CHP says Murrill and Sherman didn’t have cameras in either of their patrol SUV’s. The CHP also said that computer aided dispatch logs of radio conversations from the incident weren’t found because of “system malfunctioning for this time period.” Link
Dennis324- Posts : 1689
Join date : 2012-01-28
Age : 61
Location : Alabama
Sir Pun- Posts : 1621
Join date : 2013-01-30
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