SALDEF Advocate: Proposed Federal Law Threatens Sikh Turban

1. Proposed Federal Law Threatens Sikh Turban 2. National Media Spotlights Oregon’s Sikh Teacher Ban 3. Justice Department Takes Note of Oregon Issue 4. Another California Police Department Welcomes Sikhs 5. Sikhs Urged to Distribute Punjabi ‘Know Your Rights’ Material 6. Photos of Proud Sikhs Needed for New SALDEF Website Proposed Federal Law Threatens Sikh Turban Sixteen (16) interfaith civil rights and community organizations have joined together to voice concern about the PASS ID Act of 2009, a proposed federal law that could have a severe impact on observant Sikhs, Jews, Muslims and others who are required to wear religious headcoverings. Click here to read an interfaith letter to the Senate Homeland Security Committee The PASS ID Act of 2009 contemplates uniform standards for driver’s license and other identification photographs throughout the United States.  It is designed to replace the REAL ID Act of 2005, which has been hugely unpopular among state governments.  Like its predecessor, the PASS ID Act contains no explicit guarantee that religious headcoverings may continue to be worn in driver’s license and other identification photographs.  This gaping hole in the proposed law may be exploited by the Department of Homeland Security and give the agency an opportunity to depart from well-settled State Department standards and either (1) ban headcoverings in driver’s license and other identification photographs, or (2) make it easier for states to do so. These are not theoretical concerns.  Earlier this year, SALDEF and numerous interfaith organizations overcame efforts by the legislatures of Oklahoma and Minnesota to ban headcoverings in driver’s license photographs.  In addition, SALDEF worries that bureaucrats at the Department of Homeland Security believe that headcoverings should not be worn in identification photographs. Do you want the United States to turn into France, where Sikhs are banned from wearing their dastaars (turbans) in identification photographs?  Do you want to live in a society in which you cannot travel or enter into transactions because you lack a ‘valid’ identification document?  If not, please call your U.S. Senators today and tell them to amend the PASS ID Act of 2009 so that it protects our inalienable right to wear religious headcoverings in driver’s license and other identification photographs. National Media Spotlights Oregon’s Sikh Teacher Ban Two months after SALDEF spearheaded an interfaith protest against Oregon’s failure to repeal a law enacted almost a century ago by supporters of the Ku Klux Klan, the Associated Press has published a nationally syndicated article about the issue, which has been reproduced in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, CBS News, MSNBC.  SALDEF encourages the Sikh American community to distribute these articles far and wide to help create awareness about this issue. Oregon is one of only three states in the country that forbid public school teachers from wearing religious clothing in the classroom.  Although Oregon’s law was aimed at Catholics in the 1920s, observant Sikhs, Jews, and Muslims currently bear the brunt of its enforcement and cannot pursue careers as public school teachers in Oregon. Justice Department Takes Note of Oregon Issue On August 31, 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a letter acknowledging SALDEF’s concerns about Oregon’s ban on religious clothing for school teachers.  The agency said that it would give “careful consideration” to the issue. In light of this development, if you have ever been denied employment as a public school teacher (or as a substitute teacher) by the State of Oregon because of your Sikh articles of faith, please contact SALDEF as soon as possible. To learn more about this issue, read our Action Alert entitled Religious Freedom v. Ku Klux Klan, and please continue to visit our website for updates. Another California Police Department Welcomes Sikhs