It is a pity that ignorance usually finds a way to create problems where none should exist. Just because some one wears a turban, to be equated to the Al Quaida saddens me. In India, the Sikhs are a highly visible and successful minority who command tremendous respect. Our Prime Minister today, Mr. Manmohan Singh is one, just to give you an example. They are gregarious, fun loving and with great sense of humour. They crack jokes on themselves with abandon and there are many jokes that are created on them, which they cheerfully accept as their own.
I have personally known some remarkable Sikhs and was fortunate to count one among my closest friends. He unfortunately is no more among us, but when he was alive, he was a regular house guest at our home and was treated like a member of the family by Urmeela and Ranjan. He ran a restaurant in Mumbai and whenever we went there, we were treated like royalty.
News like this, therefore disturbs us. Despite the fact that the local community have gone to great lengths to protect and assuage the hurt, it cannot be easy to live under such threats from ignorant hate mongers.
While I was mulling over a post on this subject, synchronicity once again played its hand and gave me access to this wonderful tidbit.
“A bunch of boys hired a taxi driven by a Sardar driver for one full day.During the entire ride the boys kept cracking sardar jokes.At the end of the ride when the boys paid the fare,the Sardar driver gave Rs 10 to each of the boys saying ” I forgive you for all your jokes because you are all young,yet to understand life.Meanwhile,take this ten rupees and give it to the first Sikh beggar you may come across”.
Years later,each of the boys still had the ten Rupees,as they could not find a single Sikh beggar.
Silkhs contribute :
33% income Tax
45% of the Indian Army
67% of the total charities
59000 Gurdwaras serve langar free of charge to 60 lakh people every day.
All of this when Sikhs form only 1.4% of the Indian population.”
Source : Article by Khushwant Singh,Hindustan Times,dated March 18,2012.
That article doesn’t ring true. I spend time in NY/NJ, and have never met a person who confused a Sikh with a muslim, let alone believed them to be linked to the taliban. At most, the letter is just the ravings of a crazy person. We’ve got lots of those here in the states.
Aside humor: A Sikh Indian family purchased the local Exxon convenience store down the street recently. I told the patriarch, “Welcome to America! We hope you like it here. How long have you been here?”
He told me, “27 years.” Heh. I guess I should have asked him the question before I welcomed him to this new land
.
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Rummuser Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 08:36
And that reminds me of the time the Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. He found a family of Sikhs coming towards him and asked in wonder “How long have you been here?” The Sardar, replies with a grin – “Since partition.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_India
Hi Rummy,
I am utterly shocked by what I read in the link you provided: I wonder how much longer the world will tolerate ignorance and bigotry.
I like and have huge respect for the Sikhs. My family knew Sikh families in Mozambique and we view them as we view ourselves.
In Portugal, the Sikh community is small but well integrated and I never heard of them having any problems with the Portuguese.
It is saddening to see bigotry re-conquering the world bit by bit *nodding*.
Here’s to you, Rummy, for exposing this.
Pray, what is langar?
Cheers
Max Coutinho recently posted..President Obama & the Jewish Right Wing: If I could find Words…
Rummuser Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 08:38
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langar_%28Sikhism%29
Max Coutinho Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 10:01
Thank you and have a nice weekend!
Max Coutinho recently posted..President Obama & the Jewish Right Wing: If I could find Words…
What can I say? Unfortunately the world is full of deranged individuals who have no interest in the finer details of religious differences and only want to sow hatred by any means possible.
Nick recently posted..Only teasing
Rummuser Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 08:39
And I see no end to it Nick and that troubles me.
Interesting this, Ramana, all based on appalling ignorance. I would refute so many who would say “dirty Pakis” by asking them had they ever been inside a Sikh home. Of course none of them had. They would have been astonished at the level of cleanliness, far, far superior to their own. Hands were washed in between every course of the meal, for one.
Ignorance is so prevalent.
I hope these morons are caught.
XO
WWW
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Rummuser Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 08:40
I hope so too. But the bigger question is still ignorance of the differences between different peoples. That is a pity indeed. It throws a poor light on the levels of education that we offer our children.
That is a sad story, thankfully not everyone thinks that way. This to me sounds more like racial prejudice using the Taliban angle for an excuse. I have not heard anything of this sort happening in Australia, though I recall an inocent man was shot by the police in England some years ago because they thought he was a suicide bomber!!! He was an electrician going to work!!!
Regards, Keith.
Keith recently posted..Anna Morandi, an extraoridinay 18th Century Woman.
Rummuser Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 08:41
Thank you for those comments Keith.
You might like Andy Borowitz’s latest column on bigotry: http://www.borowitzreport.com/
Cheerful Monk recently posted..A Fun, Adventuresome Week
Rummuser Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 08:41
That hurts as much as anything else. Black humour at its best.
Cheerful Monk Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 15:09
Here are a couple of articles about a neighbor watch fellow killing an unarmed African American and the police completely botching the investigation:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/police-chief-trayvon-martin-case-resigns-temporarily-amid/story?id=15977847&nwltr=icymi_wn_headline#.T2zEYI7Zedg
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/who-is-george-zimmerman/2012/03/22/gIQAkXdbUS_story_2.html
Also the last newsletter from the Southern Poverty Law Center (fights against bigotry) says the number of hate groups in the U.S is exploding.
Cheerful Monk recently posted..A Fun, Adventuresome Week
Rummuser Reply:
March 24th, 2012 at 07:36
This phenomenon is explained in the book Blink by Caldwell. In his blog he explains some other instances of rapid cognition and coincidentally I am reading a fascinating book “Thinking Fast And Slow” by Daniel Kahneman which explains some of these thought processes that go behind silly actions taken by apparently normal people. Stereotyping being one very common factor.
Cheerful Monk Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 15:15
Here’s another article: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/obama-makes-first-comments-on-trayvon-martin-shooting/?emc=na
It’s more clear than the second one above.
Cheerful Monk recently posted..A Fun, Adventuresome Week
Rummuser Reply:
March 24th, 2012 at 07:38
My first reaction to that speech was one of amazement. Irrespective of his own colour, the President of the USA should have perhaps been politically more correct. Subsequently, I see that it is precisely the political correctness that needs to be challenged and I have changed my reaction to one of admiration.
Innovative and informative blog!!
Stupidity and prejudice feed on fear all the time. I am so tired of it all. I wish I could say, it is new to me, but unfortunately it is the same old story of hate and bigotry. Still I am glad you have brought it to our attention.
Rummuser Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 08:44
Thank you.
maybe some cynical individual is familiar with those numbers rummy and afraid they may assume the same significant status here – wouldn’t be the first time a minority group took advanrtage of our system and made it work for them while we “real americans” sit and whine
Rummuser Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 08:46
Interesting thought that. Certainly worth looking into in places like New York with a high Sikh population.
I am so sad for the prejudice and injustice. I am mourning (and writing about) that in our country today.
Talk to Me…I’m Your Mother recently posted..Am I there yet?
Rummuser Reply:
March 25th, 2012 at 05:40
I read your post and have commented on it. There is something seriously wrong with humanity as a whole and increasingly, those that retain some semblance of humanity still, seem unable to do anything about it.
I love that joke about the Sikhs on the moon. I’ll use it in future.
Far better than mine here http://blackwatertown.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/an-old-sikh-joke/ which is also where you’ll find out what I think of Sikhs. (Though to give you a clue my Top Girl’s godfather is one.)
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Rummuser Reply:
March 25th, 2012 at 05:47
I did go over to the older post and have left my comments on it. A grand write up about Sikhs indeed.
Rummuser,
You say, “This phenomenon is explained in the book Blink by Caldwell. In his blog he explains some other instances of rapid cognition and coincidentally I am reading a fascinating book “Thinking Fast And Slow” by Daniel Kahneman which explains some of these thought processes that go behind silly actions taken by apparently normal people. Stereotyping being one very common factor.”
I’m afraid it goes a lot deeper than just rapid cognition. Think of what’s going on in Iraq: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/world/middleeast/as-the-displaced-return-to-iraq-new-tensions-arise.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120325
Cheerful Monk recently posted..A Fun, Adventuresome Week
Rummuser Reply:
March 29th, 2012 at 20:00
What is going on in Iraq, Syria and other Middle Eastern states is a complex power play of Shia / Sunni equations. In some the rulers are Shia of either majority Sunni Muslim populations or vice versa and some others where significant minorities of one or the other create trouble. Two big regional players, the Iranis who are predominantly Shia and the Arab nations, the rulers of which are all Sunnis. Israel bashing to gain legitimacy plays its own role in the dynamics.
In the case of the Florida killing, I just suggest that Zimmerman might have had a moment of rapid cognition seeing a hooded black man moving suspiciously. I had not then had the benefit of wisdom by hindsight that I have now gathered from Jonathan Capeheart.
I would still give it a fair shot that it was a matter of rapid cognition, negative though it might have been.
Cheerful Monk Reply:
March 29th, 2012 at 21:45
If so, the rapid cognition was based on years of prejudice. And Zimmerman says the boy attacked him. The police surveillance video showing Zimmerman entering the police station doesn’t corroborate his story. I’m just watching In the Heat of the Night about the American South before the Civil Rights movement. It shows the deep-seated prejudice. Again, a lot more than just rapid cognition.
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