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12-year-old Sikh girl's hair cut in
school
Sikhs march In
Queens area to
protest continuing harassment of Sikh students
WSN Network
 NEW
YORK: A twelve-year-old Sikh girl's hair was maliciously cut by
another student. On June 9, Gurprit Kaur, a student at Public School
219 in
Flushing,
Queens,
discovered that another student had cut off a portion of her braided
hair and discarded it.
Gurprit's school
conducted an investigation and within hours advised her that a
classmate (a juvenile who shall remain nameless) had admitted to
cutting her hair during a class they share together and where they
sit next to each other. The school returned Gurprit's hair to her
wadded in a tissue. The perpetrator was suspended the same day.
Sadly, the
perpetrator specifically harassed Gurprit because of her and her
brother, Talwinder because of their Sikh faith. The perpetrator made
fun of Talwinder's jurdha and patka (smaller turban), saying "Your
brother has a ball on his head. I am going to rip it off and throw
it at him."
The attack on
Gurprit occurred just five days after Jagmohan Singh Premi was
punched in the face when a student intentionally attempted to remove
his patka at
Richmond Hill
High School, in Richmond Hill, Queens. A year ago, Harpal Singh's
hair was forcibly cut by another sutdent in a city school.
The perpetrator
knew that cutting hair was against Gurprit's religion. Several
months ago, the perpetrator specifically asked Gurprit why she did
not cut her hair. Gurprit responded because her religion does not
allow it.
Gurprit's
brother Talwinder, a sixth grade student, is routinely subject to
ridicule because of his Sikh articles of faith. Other sixth-graders
call him "potatohead" and "turbanator." Students would say that
Talwinder has a bomb on his head, and to get away from him because
he is going to blow everyone up.
The Protest
March
 On
June 30, Gurprit Kaur and Jagmohan Singh Premi's parents were part
of a march through the streets of
Richmond Hill,
Queens borough protesting a spate of hate crimes against Sikh school
students and calling upon the Department of Education in the city to
take proactive action to stop the menace. Premi addressed the
assembly at the end of the march.
Nearly 200
people marched from the two gurdwaras in
Richmond Hill to
the Richmond Hill High School. A report has brought out that almost
60 percent of the 400 Sikh students had suffered bias-based
harassment or violence in city schools.
Schools
chancellor Joe Klein had earlier met the Sikh community and said new
bias regulations were being implemented.
2
July, 2008
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