Judge to Sikh Man: Remove “That Rag” or Go to Jail

[Fantastic Anarchist]

Judge to Sikh Man: Remove “That Rag” or Go to Jail
By Bear Atwood, ACLU at 4:57pm

Today, in a letter to the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT), the ACLU and United Sikhs called on state officials to investigate the harassment of a Sikh commercial truck driver pulled over early this year for a flat tire. After detaining Mr. Jageet Singh in January as he passed through Mississippi, the officers called him a "terrorist" and harassed and humiliated him because of his appearance and religious beliefs. As a devout Sikh, Mr. Singh wears a turban and carries a kirpan. A kirpan is a small, spiritual sword that is sheathed and sewn to the waistband. It is designed and worn as an article of faith, much as a cross is worn by devout Christians.

Contending, wrongly, that his kirpan was illegal, the officers demanded that Mr. Singh remove it. When Mr. Singh explained that he was a Sikh and that the kirpan was a sacred religious article, the officers laughed at him and mocked his religious beliefs. One officer declared that all Sikhs are "depraved" and "terrorists." They continued to taunt him, and forced Mr. Singh to circle his truck with his hands on his turban while they searched the vehicle. Finally, not content with this humiliation, they arrested him, claiming that Mr. Singh had refused to obey an officer's lawful command.

Mr. Singh's ordeal did not end with the MDOT. When he returned to Mississippi on March 26, 2013, for his court date at the Pike County Justice Court, he once again suffered humiliation, harassment, and discrimination because of his religious beliefs. Waiting for his attorney in the back of the courtroom, he was stunned when four Highway Patrol officers approached him and ordered him to leave the courtroom. The officers stated that Judge Aubrey Rimes had ordered them to eject Mr. Singh from the courtroom because he did not like Mr. Singh's turban. Moreover, they told Mr. Singh that Judge Rimes would punish him if he failed to remove his headdress.

When Mr. Singh's attorney went to Judge Rimes's chambers to inquire about the matter, he readily confirmed that he had expelled Mr. Singh from the courtroom because of his turban. He further stated that Mr. Singh would not be allowed to re-enter the courtroom unless he removed "that rag" from his head and threatened to call Mr. Singh last on the docket if he continued to wear the religious headdress.

---snip---

Source: ACLU

[etherealtruth]

1. OMG

i can't even formulate anything to say except that I am absolutely horrified

[Fantastic Anarchist]

33. Especially a judge who is supposed to be aware of things called "Amendments" and "The Constitution"

Or that the court is supposed to be "impartial."

Yeah, them's for the birds, I suppose.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. Mississippi is still stuck in the 19th century.

[Recursion]

4. Ironically, in the 19th century Mississippi had a vibrant South Asian community

Mostly Bengali; they did well because being neither technically "black" nor "white" they could be business go-betweens for both races.

[Uncle Joe]

3. His attorney should try to get a different judge as this one is obviously biassed.

Thanks for the thread, Fantastic Anarchist.

[pscot]

7. He needs a better lawyer

from the Civil rights division of DOJ

[Tigress DEM]

10. Except that by letting it happen, it can be overturned.

Gave the judge the rope to hang himself.

He's being investigated now and police are being required to learn about this abuse of power and that it is not legal to persecute someone for their faith and how that is presented for this particular faith.

By one person getting mistreated maybe saving many others from the same.

[Uncle Joe]

11. Well that's a good point. n/t

[MADem]

13. It's a shame it has to happen that way, but you are right.... nt

[uponit7771]

24. +1

[KittyWampus]

41. Tigress, looking at your signature and the OP, it's a curious synchronicity

That said, I sincerely hope this causes a lot of people to become more educated about several different topics.

In NYC the Sikhs have a wonderful street festival every Spring where they serve free food to anyone. ANYONE. So beautiful.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

34. You bet, Uncle Joe.

[madaboutharry]

5. Evidence that having an education

and a law degree does not exempt one from being an ignorant asshole.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

35. Or establish the fact that they are "intelligent."

[Comrade Grumpy]

6. Wow. n/t

[Scurrilous]

8. Unbelievable.

[xfundy]

9. But, but, but!!

"Christians™" are the only ones being persecuted!

[grillo7]

42. Yeah, enough about this...

Let's talk about real discrimination: the war on Christmas...

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Nice.

Which reminds me, I need to donate to the ACLU.

[The Straight Story]

14. Not shocked at all. People on the right peddle hate/fear of a person's personal choice

Folks get scared and call the cops when they see them because 'some' people who look like that have done terrible things.

And it doesn't matter if Sikh or Muslim, some folks don't educate themselves and just go by how 'scary' they look.

[uponit7771]

25. +1

[leftynyc]

27. You just know this "judge"

is a devout viewer of fox news and probably has rush, sean and rest of the radio clowns pouring poison in his ears every day. I would bet the mortgage on it.

[Shrike47]

15. The ignorance of the police and the judge is breathtaking.

[lonestarnot]

16. Good gawd. How embarrassing.

What idjits grow there.

[Aristus]

17. My heart aches for my country. And for that poor man.

Goddamn fucking Mississippi anyway! What the fuck is wrong with you shitheads, anyway?...

[otohara]

37. Land Of The Free & Dumb

and GUNS.

I'm embarrassed it's not just Mississippi - I live in CO where we can soon buy marijuana, but Weld county want to secede because of guns.

[gopiscrap]

18. Ignorant fuckers I hope he sues the shit out of MS

[a2liberal]

19. Holy $%^&

I thought we were past this...

As a Sikh, govt. has generally been an ally in fighting bigotry and hatred, not a collaborator.

Edit: glad to see DOJ is on the case

[azurnoir]

20. The Judge and MDOT probably think Michael Page is some sort of hero

but I see quite the lawsuit in the near future

[GreenStormCloud]

21. The harassment and demand to remove the turban was grossly excessive.

But I can understand wanting the kirpan removed. Those are deadly weapons. And Sihs are supposed to know how to use it rather well.

If the law makes allowances for the kirpan for the followers of the Sikh religion, then what is to stop me from starting a religion that requires me to wear a gun?

[warrant46]

22. Not the first time this has happened

Rep. John Cooksey (R-La.) told a radio interviewer that anyone wearing "a diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around the diaper" should be "pulled over" for extra questioning at airports.

[Sgent]

23. This idiot is fortunately not a real judge

he's a Justice of the Peace -- an anachronism that should be abolished. I was suspicious (and investigated) since (most) real judges in Mississippi are elected from a large region -- not one county. There are some narrow exceptions which aren't generally applicable.

JP's in Mississippi are only required to have a high school education, no court transcripts are kept, and appeals are de novo to a regional circuit or chancery judge.

They can (and do) hear cases involving small claims, warrants, bail, and some misdemeanor's -- since traditionally "big boy" court was only held sporadically in many MS counties. I'm surprised though that an attorney would have not got it immediately moved to the circuit court.

I'm also a bit shocked at the police behavior. I couldn't determine if the ones that arrested him were highway patrol or local police -- hopefully they were the local police as I would hope that the highway patrol would be more professional.

[leftynyc]

28. He still had the power to do this

To humiliate and harass someone in his court thinking he could do it without consequence. He must be made an example of and it would be great if every single person in the country knew his name.

[RedCappedBandit]

29. High school degree? Ridiculous.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

36. Thanks for the doing the legwork and for the information.

[grillo7]

43. Why on earth would you have someone in the legal system at that level...

with only a high school education?
This whole incident is just appalling. Are there any real consequences for the people involved that can come out of this? From what I read, it seemed like they were adjusting policies and such, but the individuals involved should face repercussions...

[Sgent]

44. The judicial commission

can and does remove JP's quicker than chancery or circuit judges, and they hopefully will look at this.

Unfortunately, the judges are elected in partisan elections, and generally hold a large amount of political capital -- which when combined with a relatively large legislature means that they hold a lot of political capital within the election districts of the legislators.

Although there is an initiative system in MS, its very hard to use and unlikely that this particular issue would make it to a ballot.

I agree that JP's should be an attorney, but historically there was a reason for these judges. Many counties (there are 82 in MS) have relatively few lawyers, especially the rural ones. Multiple counties only have 1-2 days of circuit court / month, and someone needs to be a magistrate in that situation.

[leftynyc]

26. It seem MS deserves

every bit of derision and contempt that is thrown their way. If this judge is allowed to continue in his job, there is simply no hope in that state. I feel sorry for every single person that lives there - even the ones not worthy of pity.

[Recursion]

30. There are a lot of Sikhs in my neighborhood

No religion, in my opinion, deserves praise and encouragement quite as much as this one.

[Douglas Carpenter]

31. wow, just wow - I certainly hope the judge and police are prosecuted

[Enthusiast]

32. Bigotry and ignorance.

Just what I would expect.

[demigoddess]

38. sikhs are very non-violent

My understanding is that their faith is mainly non-violent. We have many in our area, and they are as peaceful as it gets.

[MisterP]

45. unsurprisingly, bigotry isn't particularly logical--it's very post-hoc

no doubt the Pat Condells of an alternate universe where we selected the Sikhs rather than Muslims as the Uniquely Violent World EnemyTM would howl that "everything I know about Sikhism I learned on 6-23!"
(we can call him Third-Alternate-Universe Manny, perhaps?)

[badtoworse]

39. What a class act!

[MisterP]

40. comment québécois!