Wearing a turban in the face of hate

[rug]

Regardless what you think of turbans, you've got to admire the Chadha family.

Father and son wear turbans everywhere. And Mom, though at time fearful for their safety, supports them.

It's not that the Chadhas want to antagonize anyone in our post 9/11 world. Far from it. It's simply that their religion, Sikhism, requires such attire.

I suppose they could deny their faith. But then they'd also be denying what the United States is about.

http://articles.ocregister.com/2011-07-12/news/29770598_1_turban-arinder-chadha-father-and-son

[provis99]

1. It's probably racial, not religious.

I doubt a white guy wearing a turban would face this hostility. After all, racial minorities that are not Muslims regularly get attacked for being Muslims in this country; but I doubt white Muslims ever get attacked.

[rug]

2. Likely. Religious hostility often masks an underlying hostility.

[okasha]

4. The picture that goes with the article

shows a man no darker than a tanned Anglo-American.

[provis99]

5. no, he's obviously not white.

[okasha]

6. Perhaps it's a matter of perspective, and possibly your definition of "white."

I'll just say that to this person of color, he looks pretty damn pale.

And in any case, it's clearly the turban, not his skin color, that sets the bigots off. He's being called "towelhead," not "n*****" or some variant thereof.

[provis99]

7. well, actually I think the attacker's perspective matters, not mine.

I'm betting if we asked him, he'd hate the guy even if he took the turban off.

[sudopod]

9. OH, you'd be surprised. nt

[Drale]

3. No one ever called Indie a terrorist.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

8. Stupid white don't know the diff between a Muslim and a Sikh.

Sikhs are related to Hinduism. They also have been fired and persecuted for carrying a small ritual dagger. One woman that worked for the IRS in Houston was told she could not wear her ritual dagger to work because it was a dangerous weapon.

[onager]

10. We have a Sikh co-worker at my job.

He's always worn a turban, and he's worked there for over 20 years. (For the curious, I work in aerospace/defense. Where, contrary to popular DU myth, clocking in every day you will find an amazing number of Off-Brand Religions, liberal Dems, atheists/agnostics, and gays. Now that I think of it, our old stodgy company has offered domestic-partner benefits for years.)

After 9/11, some of us were worried about him and offered to give him rides to/from work, etc. He was grateful but said it was unnecessary.

It may help that he's a BIG guy, and looks sort of like this...without the horse and lance: