In what appears to be another case of egregious racial profiling a group of Sikh musicians was forced to disembark from a commercial flight after the pilot refused to fly with them on board.
The Times of India reports:
Three eminent Sikh religious musicians were thrown out of a US Airways flight after the pilot refused to fly with them on board in California, a leading US-based Sikh group alleged on Wednesday.In a complaint letter to the Airways, ‘United Sikhs’ protested the incident and warned it of legal action unless prompt amends are made (link)
The report further states that at one point a Punjabi interpreter had to be brought in as none of them spoke English.While this may have added to the confusion, if true, this incident is a crying shame. Given the way things are in the world today there is absolutely NO excuse for Americans and America ANYONE to plead ignorance about other cultures. And what else can we attribute this incident to ? The pilot must have felt uncomfortable at the thought of flying three turbaned persons which clearly shows how xenophobia has permeated every part of life. This is the latest in a string of incidents since September 2001 , where Sikhs have been targeted for overt and covert discrimination and tragically violent attacks.
We’ll report more on this incident as we hear of it.
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