SALDEF to Speak at Top Law Schools

Discussions at William & Mary and Yale to Create Awareness about Sikh Religion and Post-9/11 Challenges to Sikh Americans

Washington DC; February 11, 2009 – The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the oldest Sikh American civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, will introduce its work to students, faculty, and legal practitioners at William & Mary Law School and Yale Law School this month.

The presentation at William & Mary Law School—the oldest law school in the United States—will be delivered on February 12, 2009 under the auspices of the Institute of Bill of Rights Law and will focus on contemporary challenges facing Sikh Americans (particularly hate crimes and discrimination) and strategies that lawyers and policy advocates can use to address these issues. The presentation will include a screening of On Common Ground, the law enforcement training video on Sikh cultural awareness co-produced by SALDEF and the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, SALDEF will discuss its scholarship on the non-accommodation of Sikh Americans in the U.S. Armed Forces.

The presentation at Yale—the top-ranked law school in the United States, according to U.S. News and World Report—will be delivered on February 21, 2009 in the context of a panel discussion at the 15 Annual Rebellious Lawyering Conference, one of the largest student-run public interest conferences in the nation. The discussion will focus on the causes of hate crimes against East Asian, South Asian and Middle Eastern Americans in recent decades.

“Most people in the United States know nothing about Sikhs, and the legal community is largely unfamiliar with the Sikh religion and the unique legal challenges that we face,” said Rajdeep Singh Jolly, Legal Director of SALDEF. “By introducing ourselves to future lawyers and judges and legislators at these conferences, SALDEF is taking a proactive step toward building alliances in the cause of ending hate crimes and discrimination against Sikh Americans.”

If you would like SALDEF to make a presentation about the Sikh religion and Sikh American civil rights issues to your college, law school, or graduate school, please contact Rajdeep Singh Jolly via email at legal@saldef.org or by phone at (202) 393-2700 Ext 131.

1. SALDEF Encourages Senate Confirmation of Attorney General Nominee
2. SALDEF Recognized for Work on Behalf of the Sikh American Community
3. SALDEF Accepting Applications for 2009 Internship Program
4. SALDEF Advises Obama/Biden Presidential Transition Team on Civil Rights Concerns
5. SALDEF Meets with Senate Democratic Leadership
6. SALDEF Pressures Justice Department and FBI on New Intrusive Investigative Guidelines
7. SALDEF Participates in Department of Homeland Security Roundtable
8. SALDEF Conducts Cultural Awareness Training for Counterterrorism Agents
9. Bezos Scholars Program at the Aspen Institute Seeks Entries for High School Juniors

SALDEF Encourages Senate Confirmation of Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder

Over the past eight years, SALDEF has been at the forefront of fighting against many of the civil rights and civil liberty abuses that occurred as a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. These include the illegal detention of American citizens after the attacks without cause or right to counsel, the torturing of detainees, infringement upon the privacy of Americans, and the politicization of the United States Department of Justice, including the Civil Rights Division.

US Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder has been a steadfast advocate of the United States Constitution and an individual of indelible character. When he was a United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, he started the first Bias Crimes Task Force which established a federal, state, local, and community-based partnership to combat hate crimes and bias in the community. Similar partnerships have been developed in dozens of cities across the United States using this exact model.

SALDEF encourages the United States Senate to confirm US Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder so that he may begin providing independent leadership on many of the difficult policy and management decisions that have plagued the Justice Department for the past eight years.

Please contact your Senator at (202) 224-3121 and encourage them to “Support, without delay, Eric Holder”s confirmation for United States Attorney General.”

SALDEF Recognized for Work on Behalf of Sikh American Community

On December 25, 2008 at the annual Darbar-E-Khalsa in Southern California, celebrating the Gurpurab of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, SALDEF was recognized by the International Institute of Gurmat Studies (IIGS) with their Sikh Rights Advocacy Award. The award was presented to SALDEF at a gathering of thousands of Sikhs from across California and the Western United States, “in appreciation and recognition of distinguished service to the Sikh Community of the USA, by protecting the civil rights of Sikh Americans and fighting against cases of hate crimes and discrimination against them.” SALDEF would like to thank IIGS for this tremendous honor and congratulate them on the success of this annual event.

SALDEF Accepting Applications for 2009 Summer Internship Program

Intern with SALDEF
The SALDEF Internship Program offers Sikh American youth an opportunity to be uniquely positioned to advocate for national policy issues on behalf of Sikhs. The program educates students on issues of civil rights, public policy and the legislative process. Students will gain hands-on experience in community organizing, research, writing, legal issues affecting the community, political action, and educational outreach. Current opportunities available include: Legal Research, Legislative, Communications and Development Interns.

Click here for more information.

SALDEF Advises Obama/Biden Presidential Transition Team on Civil Rights Concerns

December 18, 2008: SALDEF Legal Director Rajdeep Singh Jolly met with transition group members to discuss post 9/11 policy and legislative concerns. The meeting was coordinated by South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) and was attended by representatives of other local and national organizations.

December 17, 2008: SALDEF was the sole Sikh American community representative at the National Asian American and Pacific Islander Leaders meeting to discuss with Transition Advisory Board Members and Senior Staff, the concerns of the Sikh American community. Additionally, SALDEF discussed and delivered its Presidential Transition Memorandum to the Transition Team. A brief summary video on the meeting, which was produced by the Obama/Biden Administration, can be found here.

December 15, 2008 : SALDEF met with Transition Team members to discuss the 2010 Census. SALDEF advocated for a more robust and inclusive outreach efforts to the Sikh and South Asian American communities. The Census is a critical government program that ensures segments of the population are counted correctly. The data provided by the Census can be used to enhance the long term advocacy and political representation of Sikhs in the United States.

December 15, 2008 : SALDEF, the only Sikh American organization advocating for national legislation to combat hate crimes, met with Transition Team members to ensure that national hate crime legislation and combating bias attacks is a top priority for the new Administration. SALDEF was able to confirm that preventing hate crimes and hate crime legislation would be top priorities for the incoming Obama Administration.

December 8, 2008: SALDEF met with the Civil Rights Task Force of the Transition Team on efforts to combat racial profiling of Sikh Americans in a variety of contexts. SALDEF advocated for the Transportation Security Agency to institute ethnic and racial data collection efforts, passage of the End Racial Profiling Act, and amendments to the Justice Department Racial profiling Guidelines and the Mukasey FBI Investigative Guidelines.

SALDEF Meets with Senate Democratic Leadership

On December 16, 2008, SALDEF met with the U.S. Senate Democratic Leadership and Committee members to inform them of the national priorities of the Sikh American community. This meeting is part of SALDEF’s ongoing effort to ensure that the Sikh American community has a strong voice in the halls of Congress and to hold our elected officials accountable to the community. SALDEF discussed U.S. Military policy that denies Sikh Americans the right to serve in the Armed Services, hate crime and religious freedom legislation, and the need for Senate Leadership to commit to meeting with various members of the religious community in the United States on a recurring basis.

SALDEF Pressures Justice Department and FBI on New Intrusive Investigative Guidelines

True to our mission as the only national Sikh American civil rights and advocacy organization, SALDEF provides a Sikh American voice to many of the critical civil rights challenges our nation faces, including holding the Justice Department accountable when it oversteps its bounds by changing decades of proper investigative techniques.

SALDEF has been engaged in high-level and confidential discussions about the Attorney General Mukasey Guidelines which allowed for increased intrusive investigative techniques for non-criminal behavior. SALDEF worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to review and provide comments to the Domestic Investigative Operations Guidelines (DIOG) and to ensure that civil liberties are protected and the U.S. Constitution is defended.

SALDEF Participates in Homeland Security RoundTable

SALDEF Managing Director Kavneet Singh participated on a panel at the Department of Homeland Security”s Youth Roundtable on November 12, 2008 in Los Angeles, CA. Joining Mr. Singh on the panel was Ms. Fatima Rahmatullah of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. The panel was meant to highlight the role of the Media and Hollywood and the challenges and opportunities it poses for members of the Sikh, Arab, Muslim and South Asian American communities. The panel also discussed examples of positive and negative images in mainstream media, and how youth leaders can work to achieving the ends they would like to see.

SALDEF Conducts Cultural Awareness Training for Counterterrorism Agents

SALDEF-DOJ Partnership

Bezos Scholas Program at the Aspen Institute Seeks Entries for High School Juniors

The Bezos Scholars Program at the Aspen Institute, a collaboration between the Bezos Family Foundation and the Aspen Institute, is designed to bring together twelve of the United States” top high school juniors to engage in seminars and informal meetings with the international leaders, thinkers, and creative artists who participate in the annual Aspen Ideas Festival (June 30 – July 6, 2009).

The program provides the participating juniors with seven-day, all-expense-paid scholarships to attend the festival. An educator from each student”s school also will be awarded a full scholarship, thereby offering a unique leadership development opportunity for students and educators. At the Aspen Ideas Festival, the scholars have opportunities to speak one-on-one with world leaders, global thinkers, and acclaimed entertainers. Past scholars have met with inventor Dean Kamen, Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O”Connor, Her Majesty Queen Noor, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and President Bill Clinton, among others. Following their time in Aspen, the Student Scholar/Educator Scholar teams will return home and apply for $1,000 School Award Grants to use in creating local Ideas Festivals in their schools.

Washington, DC, January 16, 2009 –The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), in cooperation with the Sikh Study Circle Inc. Gurdwara and the Sikh American Association for a Better Tomorrow (SAABT), will be organizing a Know Your Rights (KYR) Forum for the Sikh American community of Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday, January 25, 2009. The following government agencies and representatives will provide community members with important information about employment discrimination, hate crimes, school bullying, and partnership opportunities with local law enforcement officials: Mr. John Fitzgerald Deputy Director – U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Atlanta District Office) Mr. Thomas Battles Regional Director – U.S. Department of Justice, Community Relations Service Dr. Garry McGiboney Associate State Superintendent – Innovative Instruction Division, Georgia Department of Education Major Lane A. Hagin Atlanta Police Department – Office of Professional Standards Date: Sunday, January 25, 2009 Time: 3:00pm – 4:30pm Place: SSCI Gurdwara, 1821 South Hairston Road, Stone Mountain, GA 30088 The Sikh American community must continue to build bridges of understanding with government agencies to ensure that we educate ourselves about our rights and also educate our public servants about the Sikh religion and the challenges that we face as Sikh Americans.  Since 2002, SALDEF has organized numerous educational workshops for Sikh American communities in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. SALDEF would like to thank the management of the SSCI Gurdwara, SAABT and leaders of the local Sikh American community as well as the participating government agencies for their support. For additional information about this event, or if you would like to organize a Know Your Rights Forum for your local community, please contact Rajdeep Singh Jolly by email at legal@saldef.org or via phone at 202.393.2700 ext. 131

By SUNITA SOHRABJI

Three prominent South Asian organizations have made policy recommendations on civil rights and immigration to members of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team. The organizations include South Asian Americans Leading Together, which made policy recommendations on behalf of its national coalition of 35 organizations; the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund; and the Discrimination and National Security Initiative, which examines the treatment of minority communities in the U.S., particularly Muslim Americans post-9/11. “We wanted to make sure our community had a seat at the table,” Deepa Iyer, executive director of SAALT, told India-West. SAALT, along with several national Asian American organizations, was invited to a series of meetings with Obama’s transition team, to discuss civil rights and immigration issues. SAALT then initiated a meeting with members of the civil rights transition team to put forth some recommendations. “All the meetings we went to were very productive,” said Iyer, adding, “The team was very open to hearing about the issues and the openness of the dialogue was very positive.” The administration might immediately put through some fixes, including regulatory changes and a rollback of some of the federal policies of the past eight years, independent of the congressional process, said Iyer, adding that there was a good chance some fixes might be implemented within the first 100 days of the new administration. SAALT will meet again with the new administration in February. Among SAALT’s recommendations were the vigorous enforcement of hate crime and discrimination laws, including workplace and school discrimination, and the disaggregation of data related to such incidents; a ban on racial profiling; and a rollback of some post-9/11 national security initiatives. The incoming administration’s Web site, at www.change.gov, pledges to address both racial profiling and hate crimes. SAALT also addressed immigration reform, recommending pathways to legalization and citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and expanding the H-1B and H-2B employment visa programs. SAALT also asked the administration to roll back policies targeting Muslims and Arab Americans in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Civil rights attorney Dawinder “Dave” Sidhu, founder of the DNSI, also expressed hopefulness on the new administration’s interest in civil rights issues. “We’re very optimistic that the Obama administration will act consistently with the broad constitutional themes outlined in our recommendations,” he told India-West. The DNSI’s recommendations included issuing directives to security and intelligence forces to prohibit racial or religious profiling in national security decisions; greater federal protection against hate crimes; and examining policy on the treatment of Muslim detainees post 9/11. DNSI, along with the Sikh Coalition, recently wrote an amicus brief to the Supreme Court to support the case of Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani native, who along with 1,000 New York-area Muslims, was jailed without charges, and held at a special facility for more than two years, following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Iqbal — who is suing former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller III — has alleged that he was subjected to daily torture at the Federal Bureau of Prison’s most restrictive type of facility. The DNSI has also recommended establishing a Muslim “brain trust” to determine how the Muslim world is impacted by American action. “One of the disappointing aspects of the present administration is that it has not fully appreciated the manner in which its words and actions were received in the Muslim world,” said Sidhu, adding that the U.S.’s international conduct may be perceived as “emasculating Muslim sovereignty,” thereby generating anti-American sentiment. The DNSI has proposed a “brain trust” within the State Department or a policy working group that is aware of Islamic history, culture and religious beliefs. SALDEF’s recommendations included a review of policy related to turbans and beards in U.S. military forces. Sikh Americans have effectively been excluded from the U.S. armed forces, because turbans and beards were prohibited in the military since 1981. “Military involvement exudes patriotism, and a love of the country,” Rajbir Singh Datta, executive director of SALDEF, told India-West. “Military involvement says ‘we are Americans, we are patriotic, we are just like you.’” The organization plans to make this issue its top priority with the incoming administration, said Datta, adding that there is a lot of support in Congress for a revision of policy. Datta also stated his optimism for the new administration, especially the choice of Eric Holder, who will be the nation’s first African-American attorney general, when confirmed. Holder has a long record on civil rights issues, said Datta. SALDEF also proposed that the new administration increase staff at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which hears cases related to workplace discrimination, and has increased its caseload by 68 percent over the past decade. It also made recommendations regarding the Transportation Security Administration, including collecting racial and ethnic data of passengers who are singled out for secondary screenings at airports. Sikh American organizations contend that turbaned and bearded passengers are almost always targeted for secondary screenings. In related news, SAALT is hosting a special inaugural weekend reception Jan. 18, 7 p.m. at K&L Gates in Washington D.C. More information about the event is available at SAALT’s Web site and on its Facebook page. The Indian American Leadership Initiative is also hosting an inauguration cocktail reception Jan. 19 at the EyeBar; information about the event is on IALI’s Facebook page. [http://www.indiawest.com/readmore.aspx?id=773&sid=1] India West

National civil rights organization and International testing company develop close working relationship Washington D.C. – January 7, 2009: The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the oldest Sikh American civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, is collaborating with Pearson VUE, the international computer-based testing business of Pearson VUE, to increase diversity awareness and service to minority communities. In a mutual effort to increase understanding of minority communities in the United States and abroad, SALDEF is working with Pearson VUE to disseminate information about Sikhs and Sikh American cultural practices. Additionally, SALDEF will be invited to conduct Sikhism 101 trainings for Pearson VUE employees at regional seminars Pearson VUE will host across the United States. In follow up to discussions with SALDEF, Pearson VUE reaffirms its support of Sikh patrons choosing to maintain religious accoutrements such as the daastar (turban) and kara (steel bracelet). Additionally, Pearson VUE and SALDEF acknowledged that Sikhs may undergo further scrutiny due to their kirpan (religious sword). As a result, an understanding was developed and adopted by Pearson VUE to foster an appreciation of Sikh cultural practices. “The communication and equal partnership between SALDEF and Pearson VUE is unmatched by any other company in the United States.” said SALDEF National Director Rajbir Singh Datta. “The more Corporate America works with members of minority communities, the better their services will be received and the more aware society will become about the issues facing these communities. We look forward to working with Pearson VUE in the future and providing ongoing training and information on Sikhs and Sikhism.”

Forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the United States of America elected its first African-American president. According to an editorial published in The Wall Street Journal on the morning after Barack Obama’s historic election, “one promise of his victory is that perhaps we can put to rest the myth of racism as a barrier to achievement in this splendid country.” For Sikh Americans, the strength of that promise can be measured by the extent to which American voters are ready for a Sikh president. Will there be a Sikh American president in your lifetime? Since 1996, the staff and national volunteers of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) have worked tirelessly to promote and protect the civil rights of Sikh Americans through education and advocacy. Our mission is to promote a fostering environment for future generations of Sikh Americans so that they might someday aspire to become the first Sikh American President of the United States. The keys to achieving this dream are education and advocacy, but SALDEF cannot continue its work without your support. A donation of just $10 or $20 dollars a month will help ensure that SALDEF remains on stable financial ground in 2009 and beyond.
In 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice posted the SALDEF On Common Ground Sikh cultural awareness training video to its website. The video has been shown to over 43,000 TSA airport screeners nationwide and to innumerable state and federal law enforcement officials through SALDEF’s Law Enforcement Partnership Program (LEPP).
In 2008, SALDEF collaborated with a private school and public school district in California on anti-bullying programs to ensure that Sikh students are protected from bullying and allowed to learn without fear of being harassed.
In 2008, SALDEF was featured in a debate sponsored by Warner Brothers on the controversial film entitled Towelhead. SALDEF openly condemned the use of a racial slur as a film title and advocated for a more substantial representation of Sikh Americans in the U.S. film industry.

SALDEF in the News – 2008 In 2008, SALDEF brought Sikh American issues to the attention of several media outlets in the United States and countless internet blogs around the world. As a result, thousands of people have gained exposure to issues that are important to the Sikh American community:

Defending Civil Rights

Building Bridges

Will there be a Sikh American president in your lifetime? Is the work of SALDEF important to you? Do you have any recommendations for 2009 and beyond? Do you want SALDEF to organize an educational workshop in your community? Please send an email to legal@saldef.org to share your thoughts. It goes without saying that we cannot do this work without your support. If you believe in the cause of educating and advocating for the Sikh American community for generations to come, please consider making a modest monthly donation today.

Washington, DC: December 17, 2008 – For the past month, SALDEF has worked tirelessly to ensure that your voice is heard by the Obama/Biden Presidential Transition Team, a body of advisors that is responsible for making policy recommendations to the next administration. Why? Because we are committed to ensuring that the Obama/Biden administration addresses your concerns over the next four years. Obama/Biden We can only do this with your support – Donate $20 a month to allow us to continue and expand our work in 2009! Today SALDEF met with the Executive Director of the Presidential Transition Team—Chris Lu—as well as Advisory Board Member Sonal Shah, and several other senior members of the group to discuss the concerns and priorities of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. SALDEF was the only Sikh organization present. At the meeting, SALDEF discussed its Presidential Transition Memorandum. This document contains a list of priorities for the next administration on issues relevant to the Sikh American community. In preparation for the new Congress, SALDEF is in the process of drafting a longer, more in-depth report on the civil rights challenges facing the Sikh American community. This document, which will be sent to all 540 members of the United States Congress, will also detail SALDEF’s 2009-2013 Policy Priorities, the highest of which is removing the barrier to Sikh Americans serving in the United States Armed Forces. We can only do this with YOUR support. Consider donating $10, $20 or $30 a month to SALDEF for the next year to continue and expand our work and make sure that we can stand up for your rights and those of ALL Sikh Americans Make your voice heard today!

He promises diversity training and investigation into allegations of misconduct by deputies responding to a burglary at a family’s home By CINDY HORSWELL Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Sheriff-elect Adrian Garcia gets help adjusting a head covering he wore while addressing Sikh followers at the Sikh Center of Houston on Sunday. Harris County Sheriff-elect Adrian Garcia took off his shoes and put on a head covering to enter a Sikh temple Sunday, where he pledged to expand diversity training and investigate a complaint that deputies harassed a Sikh family whose home was burglarized last month. “It’s unfortunate that we’re getting to know each other under these circumstances,” said Garcia, addressing several hundred men in colorful turbans and women draped in bright flowing scarves, who sat separately on the floor of the Sikh Center of Houston. “When these type of circumstances occur, we all lose. The image of what should be American authority suffers.” He said he could not address specifics of the case until after he assumes office in January. Officials have said that the deputies could face anything from disciplinary action to termination. Ramandeep Singh, 28, an architect technician, called 911 on Nov. 26 when he discovered that his home in the 10800 block of Oak Bayou Lane had been burglarized. Jewelry and money was missing. Rather than investigate the burglary, a deputy focused on his turban and the small ceremonial knife, called a “kirpan,” his sister had sheathed on her hip, he said. After spotting the knife, a deputy pointed a taser at the woman’s head and called for backup. Deputies handcuffed four family members, including Singh’s mother. A supervisor arrived at the home and released everyone, blaming the incident on the deputy’s “youth,” Singh said. His sister, Kawaljeet Kaur, remains distraught. “Why were we detained and put through this humiliating experience and shown such disrespect? We were treated as criminals when we had just been victimized,” she said Sunday. The New York-based Sikh Coalition has called for a formal apology and firing of the four deputies involved. The deputies’ names have not been released, and Sheriff Tommy Thomas has declined comment. Bobby Singh, regional director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said Harris County deputies would benefit from training about the Sikh religion that he has helped provide for Houston police recruits for the past eight years. A monotheistic religion, the Sikh religion emerged about 500 years ago in Punjab, a state in India, by gurus who have sometimes been persecuted by some Muslims, church members said. With about 25 million followers, the religion preaches messages of honesty, equality and charity. Bobby Singh said he hopes sheriff-elect Garcia keeps his promise to change the culture of the Harris Country Sheriff’s Office. Garcia said the incident may be the result of “misunderstandings” caused by the fact that sheriff’s deputies do not have the training about the Sikh faith that Houston police do. He hopes to change that by expanding diversity training, creating an advisory committee composed of all the county’s diverse groups, recruiting Sikh police trainees, and arranging for Sikh families to host Houston police supervisors for dinner. He estimated that it would take one to three months to complete the investigation. cindy.horswell@chron.com http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6164783.html Houston Chronicle

Sheriff-elect to listen about alleged abuse by deputies By LINDSAY WISE Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Dec. 12, 2008, 11:23PM Sheriff-elect Adrian Garcia will meet with members of the local Sikh community on Sunday to listen to their concerns about allegations that Harris County deputies harassed a Sikh family last month. “I will be offering just a good ear,” said Garcia, who will take office in January. “I think that this is one of those roles that an elected official serves. We’ve got to always be ready to listen to any segment of the community when there’s concern and understand it.” Sheriff Tommy Thomas has yet to comment publicly or respond to a letter sent last week by the Sikh Coalition, based in New York, that called for his office to fire the four deputies involved and issue a formal apology to the family. “He feels it would be inappropriate, even for media purposes, to presumptively make comments regarding an ongoing investigation of sheriff’s office personnel,” said Sheriff’s Office spokesman John Legg. Members of the Sikh family have said they called 911 when their home in the 10800 block of Oak Bayou Lane was burglarized the night of Nov. 26. But instead of investigating the break-in, they said, the responding deputy became alarmed when he noticed one of the women wore a ceremonial knife sheathed on her hip. Symbol of faith Kawaljeet Kaur, 35, said she explained to the deputy that she wears the small, blunt Kirpan as a symbol of her faith and offered to leave the room. The deputy aimed his Taser at her and called for backup, she said. Matters got worse when other deputies arrived and began cursing and handcuffing family members, including Kaur and her 60-year-old mother, relatives said. One deputy reportedly asked if the family had “heard about the bombings in Bombay.” Another allegedly said he had been to Kuwait and “knew about Muslims.” Legg said the investigation into the deputies’ actions remains “a top priority” for the sheriff’s office. “We’re very disturbed by the allegations and if proven to be true there would be consequences,” he said. He declined to release the names of the deputies or any official records of the incident pending the probe’s outcome. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, misperceptions about Sikhs’ religiously mandated turbans and beards have led to an increase in discrimination and hate crimes. But the cultural diversity training required for sheriff’s deputies every few years does not include information about the Sikh religion, a monotheistic faith with more than 25 million followers worldwide. That could now change, said Legg, the sheriff’s spokesman. “That’s certainly a point of interest for us now in expanding our training to include other religions perhaps that we may have overlooked and that may have grown in population in our area,” he said. ‘Working together’ Earlier this week, the head of the Sheriff’s Internal Affairs Division, Lt. Dennis Field, met with the family members “and had an open dialogue,” Legg said. “It went very well and there was excellent progress made,” he said. “They were working together.” Kaur confirmed that her family had met with IAD officials and made arrangements to give formal statements to investigators. She and her relatives plan to attend the meeting with Garcia at the Sikh Center in west Houston on Sunday. The invitation for Garcia to visit the center came from longtime friend Bobby Singh, regional director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Singh said the family’s story shocked the Sikh community, locally and nationally. “I think people are outraged,” he said. “I think everyone in the community feels that we are law-abiding citizens.” Sikhs aren’t asking for preferential treatment, Singh said, “but I think that if this is what equates to serving and protecting, not only the Sikh community but the Harris County community at large should be very concerned. This is not what we deserve.” Garcia felt it was important to take a proactive step. “We need to make sure that our folks have the right training to understand the diverse community that Harris County is, and I think it starts with leadership and that’s why I’m making myself available,” he said. “But overall this is an opportunity to learn and obviously to do better than we have done in the past.” lindsay.wise@chron.com [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6162789.html]

Houston, Texas : December 12, 2008 – Earlier this week, SALDEF Southern Regional Director Bobby Singh spoke with long-time friend and Harris County, Texas Sheriff-elect Adrian Garcia and invited him to attend a meeting at the Sikh Center of Houston on Sunday December 14, 2008. Harris County Organized in response to the bias-based harassment of a Sikh American family by Harris County police earlier this month, the meeting will be a critical opportunity for Sheriff-elect Garcia to address the concerns of the local Sikh American community and reassure them that he will enforce a policy of zero-tolerance for ethnic profiling and police brutality. What: Harris County Sheriff-Elect Elect Adrian Garcia to meet with the Sikh American Community Where: Sikh Center of Houston (8819 Praire Drive, Houston, Texas 77064) When: Sunday December 14, 2008 at 12:30pm Earlier this month, in the course of investigating the burglary of a Sikh American family’s home, Harris County police officials made suggestive remarks to the family about Muslims, terrorism and the Mumbai terrorist attacks. When the police officials noticed a family member wearing a kirpan, they pointed a taser gun at her head. Ultimately, police officials handcuffed multiple family members, including a sixty-year-old woman. SALDEF asks members of the community to sign the Sikh Coalition Petition to ensure that your voice is heard. SALDEF encourages all Houston- and Texas-based members of the Sikh American community to visit the Sikh Center of Houston this Sunday, December 14, 2008 to express their outrage about this incident and encourage greater partnership between police officials and the local Sikh American community. Please forward to your Sangat Members