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Editorial
Oregon takes on Obama
 Six
months ago, the world saw the rise of a person who irrespective of
the colour of his skin and his multi-nation background became the
President of the United States of America. Barrack Obama emerged on
the centre stage of the world.
Almost six
months later, the legislature of Oregon and its Governor Ted
Kulongoski by passing into law the discriminatory Oregon Workplace
Religious Freedom Act (SB 786) has undone this very spirit of
America. One sometimes wonders at the post-9/11 knee-jerk legal
reaction in various parts of the United States and how perniciously
such reaction is getting into the statute in pure and clear
violation of all that the United States, its constitution, its
people and its reputation stand for.
How can the law
makers be purblind to the sentiments of the Sikhs, Jews, Muslims and
even Christian teachers of other denominations who may want to wear
religious attire, not necessarily to reinforce their identity
(though there is nothing wrong with that too) but to wear something
which is part of their entire persona?
Section 4 of the
Act states that, “No teacher in any public school shall wear any
religious dress while engaged in the performance of duties as a
teacher.” The assent of the Governor was quietly given without much
fanfare as the state did not want to respond to the allegations of
discrimination furthered by Sikhs and others.
The Sikh
American Legal Defense Fund has been quick to react with the
statement that, “This gaping hole in SB 786 constitutes a major step
backward and simply cannot be reconciled with the spirit behind
robust workplace religious freedom legislation.”
Like the Sikh
students in France, Sikh teachers in Oregon will not be allowed to
wear dastaars (turbans) should this be signed by the Oregon
Governor. Surely, with his education in a Catholic Boy’s home in St.
Louis and his remarkable work for education of all Oregon children,
it was expected that Ted Kulongoski will refrain from signing into
law a legislation which will undo not only the good work done by
him, but also that of the President Obama. This irony can be
understood by knowing that the bill was sponsored by Seventh-Day
Adventist Christians and this section of the Christians are euphoric
at the passing of this bill.
While the Sikhs
are already at the receiving end of hate crimes in various parts of
the country, Oregon has institutionalized discrimination by signing
it into law. Sikh-Americans and civil libertarians in the US need
to redouble their efforts so that the
Oregon
workplace does not become a centre of discrimination. Any delay in
taking this up will result in private enterprises and public
institutions becoming joints for racial profiling of Sikh citizens.
It is high time for the First Amendment protagonists to take up
cudgels and reject this law which does not stand scrutiny of
religion, law, societal norms and is a clear violation of human
rights.
The state of
Oregon has a history of discrimination having suspended a Sikh
teacher for wearing the turban in 1980. The state of Oregon and
Pennsylvania should follow the examples of the police department of
Yuba City,
which welcomes Sikhs, notwithstanding the fact that they wear
articles of the Sikh faith.
This year is the
sesquicentennial year of the state of Oregon and we wish it well and
Sikh-Americans would be part of the celebrations. World Sikh News is
pretty certain that the managers of the state would not like it to
be celebrated as the year of discrimination. It is hoped that
twenty-first century America will not give its faith adherents, as
SALDEF puts it, “the humiliation of having to choose between
religious freedom and a teaching career.”
29
July 2009
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