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| Sikhs outraged at US airport turban searches |
| 2010-11-10 |
| [Emirates 24/7] Sikh Americans are protesting at what they say is a new policy at US airports to screen their turbans systematically, voicing fear the move would further stigmatize their faith. US officials have not confirmed a change in policy and insisted they respected religious beliefs. But they said security measures necessitated checks on "bulky" clothing such as turbans, which Sikh men are required by faith to wear. A group of Sikh American groups said they met several weeks ago with representatives of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) who told them that airports would now screen turbans with hand-wands at all times. Current policy is erratic, with New York City airports rarely conducting secondary searches on Sikhs but airports in other cities such as Chicago and San Francisco doing so routinely, said Amardeep Singh, co-founder of the Sikh Coalition advocacy group. "The TSA told us, point blank, that turbans will now be screened 100 per cent of the time," Singh told AFP on Monday. The community suffered a wave of hate crimes in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks by assailants who mistakenly associated Sikh men - who are also required to wear beards - with Osama bin Laden and radical Islam. "To have the government at an airport pulling the turban aside specifically and screening the turban only reinforces that view that many people already have," Singh said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 I forgot to add that the religious requirement seems to end about two years after arriving in the U.S. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2010-11-10 18:12 |
| #7 The community suffered a wave of hate crimes in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks by assailants who mistakenly associated Sikh men. Not true. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2010-11-10 18:10 |
| #6 Dear Sikhs: If you and your noble countrymen invade Pakistan and slay the beast, we will permit you wear anything you wish. Turbines, a Cowboy hat and a diaper, ANYTHING! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-11-10 14:54 |
| #5 They could take the train. or boat. or walk. i wanna know when the PC crap will end and we start profiling and not feeling up ordinary citizens. glad i no longer work for the tsa (new acronym: titz, sna!!ch and a55?) |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2010-11-10 14:43 |
| #4 Lotta people consider their air jordans to be sacred, but they take them off. If I went into an airport wearing a trash bag for the good reason of not having a rain coat, if security wasn't eyeballing me to take it off asap I would be concerned about security. This is what Juan Williams was saying...he said he was concerned when any group, not just muslims, or Sikhs, or glee club takes themselves to be more important than the security measures and proper behavior of boarding a passenger airliner. So sorry Sikhs. No offense, but tough shit. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2010-11-10 11:46 |
| #3 Anguper Hupomosing is correct....also, imagine if there was religion that held that their followers must carry a sacred backpack survival kit? |
| Posted by: HammerHead 2010-11-10 08:19 |
| #2 The problem with Sikh turbans is that anyone can create one whether or not they're Sikh. Nothing held against Sikhs, just big lumpy items can conceal a lot. What's the TSA policy on Burkha beings? Total body scan or grope-downs, or both? |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-11-10 04:11 |
| #1 First rule of search club is "do not talk about search club in front of TSA". Second rule of search club is "do not talk about search club in front of TSA". Welcome to search club. You won't be the only ones stripped searched at an airport. Maybe get mad at the idiots that bomb airliners and the governments that support those said individuals. |
| Posted by: newc 2010-11-10 00:51 |