NEW YORK – Thousands of turbans were on the heads of people from differentraces, religions and nationalities in the city’s Times Square as Sikhslaunched the annual series of Turban Day events to promote understanding oftheir faith and dispel stereotypes about the piece of attire.
On Saturday, volunteers from Sikhs of New York organisation tied turbans onthe heads of visitors while explaining its significance for Sikhs andtelling them about their religion, which is probably the most misunderstoodfaith in the US.
“The reason we are having this event is to spread awareness that peoplewith turban on their heads are Sikhs,” said Gagandeep Singh, one of theevent’s organisers from Sikhs of New York.
“We explain why Sikhs tie turbans, what a turban stands for. It gives you aresponsibility. If a person needs help, a person with a turban is supposedto help them,” he said, adding that this was the sixth edition of the eventand the people’s response has been amazing.
Turban Day events were being held as civil rights organisation, the SikhCoalition, reports a spike in hate crimes against members of the faith.
It said last month that Sikhs “are experiencing an average of one hatecrime per week since the start of 2018” and added that “this figure islikely to be the tip of the iceberg as many individuals of hate crimes donot report them to law enforcement or the Sikh Coalition”.
American media has created a stereotype of turban-wearing terrorists, whichhas come to haunt the Sikh community. Rajwant Singh, a founder of theNational Sikh Coalition, said that the polls conducted by his organisation“found out that turban causes anxiety among many Americans”.
“A large number (of Americans) has no understanding what it stands for andthey associate it with extremism whereas it stands for equality andharmony,” he said.
“Turban Day provides an opportunity for Americans and all non-Sikhs toexperience wearing it and familiarise themselves with fellow SikhAmericans. It breaks ice and forms bond with strangers,” he said
Rajwant said many other Sikh students associations held Turban Day atseveral universities across the nation and more events were planned in thedays leading up to Baisakhi next week.
A Turban Day celebration has been planned at the California statelegislature building in Sacramento on April 12.
California State Assembly is expected to pass a resolution on that dayrecognising April 12 as Baisakhi in California that was proposed byassembly member Ash Kalra.
On April 13, Baisakhi eve will be celebrated as International Turban Day bythe Sikh Children Forum based in Fremont, California, “to populariseadoption of turban as a personal, religious and social symbol of identityamongst Sikh children and our no-turban wearing Sikh brothers and sisters”.It urges Sikhs who don’t usually wear turbans to wear them on that day asthey go about their daily routine.