Dear Josh,

Relax, guy! About 99% of the people in the US wearing turbans are Sikhs. Most of us are really very nice, personsable people. I have two blogs. In the one I listed above, my personal blog, I tell a lot of stories about my family. You might enjoy those.

I/We have another blog http://roadtokhalistan.blogspot.com/ which is basically the journal of a couple of us who survived the massacre in Delhi in 1984, along with my mother-in-law. Do drop by for a visit. It tends to be very serious.

And try to give yourself a break. I have trouble with Arab men, myself, not because of terrorism, but because of honour killings, etc.

thanks for stopping by my blog. it’s good to hear reassuring words.

i hope you weren’t offended by my post. i’m a great fan of india. and learned much about sikhism. i spent 7 days in amritsar and traveled to the golden temple and various other landmarks in the punjab province. i also visited the site outside the temple where the massacre took place and was horrified.

anyway . . . i’ve met some very nice sikhs and punjabi people. one of the best meals i had was on a bed with people who were strangers 5 minutes ago but quickly became great friends.

i’m only sorry that my country has instilled such fear in me for people who aren’t like me that i sometimes forget to see the common and shared humanity that we all have. please forgive me for my subtle and overt racism.

by the way. i’ve heard good things about kucinich. i hear he’s taking the internet by storm.

Josh,

Thanks for your honesty. It is truly the path to overcoming this, not only in yourself, but as a trailblazer for others. When I lived in Vancouver, I frequently visited a very large Sikh Gurdwara (one of the largest in North America). I learned to love the Sihk people and have missed their friendship since I moved. Find out if there is a Gurdwara in your area, give them a call and go and visit. They would likely be happy to show you around and help you grow in your understanding.

Actually, have you thought about doing that with a local Mosque? I frequented a Mosque in Vancouver and consider the gentleman who always met me there, Asgar, to be a friend to this day. Now that would make some great blogging stories.

Peace,
Jamie

While not directly related to the subject matter at hand, a recent experience of mine (like 10 minutes ago) goes hand-in-hand with the theme of this post.

You see, in December I’m going to be traveling to Pakistan for the wedding of a close friend from college. I’ve told my coworkers about that, and they are absolutely convinced that I’m basically going to be either:

-kidnapped
-blown up
-shot
-beheaded

I’m well aware that Pakistan is a predominantly muslim country and any discussion of India or Sikhism is just a very small link but the fact remains the same – people really believe brown skin = blow themselves up.

Any sort of reasonable debate is impossible. Years of terror alerts and reporting on violent crime in certain areas of the world have made people hyper-sensitive to certain cultures, where they’ve become dulled to crime in their own backyard (isn’t it funny how they never say: “15 people died in a suicide bombing in this city, which is equivalent to how many people were shot in Atlanta in X number of days” on the news).

at least you’re honest about it. It’s circumstances like this where faith and belief are formed, where discipleship, growing in God occur. So, while it appears messy, it would appear that you are simply growing in God, yes?

Hi
That is tr ue. I am in Poland now, and I get stares due to my turban. That day, i was walking in the main city centre with six friends (including two locals) and a young boy walked out and made remarks about me being an Arab.
The two local Polish protested but the lad had the temerity to walk up and abuse them as well. I mean, if a kid is alone, even then he wants to take on 6 people. The local polish girl handled it well, but I felt bad for them. anyway i decided that i would rather restrict my visits than put my local hosts to embarassment.

Jamie,

I went to the exact mosque and Gurdwara in Vancouver you spoke of (actually i think they’re in Richmond) and loved it!

Josh,

You should totally take Jamie advice. Find a local mosque (when i was in Atlanta last year there was a huge one being built near Trinity vineyard. i think its off of 14th street.), and Gurdwara, call them up and ask them if you can have a “temple tour”.

I’m sure they’ll be down with it.

Dear Josh,

I am sikh from India and I read ur blog, and it’s good to see that now many americans are looking outside america.
To know more about sikh religion & culture:
http://www.sikhchic.com
And for your information,
“you will never see a sikh begger anywhere in the world, and this is what I and whole sikh community is proud of”.

i never knew how to tie turbans but bby reding this i know how too thank-you

What are those turban like hats that younger boys wear…the ones with the balls on the front of their head all i want is a name

Beamer, Sikhs do not cut off their hair – we believe it as a gift from God and having spiritual powers. The Sikh turban is about 5-6 meters long and is carefully wrapped over the head (unlike a cap it is not worn but tied). For the kids most people prefer to tie a smaller piece of cloth – no less significant. The whole process whether it be a kid or an adult starts with neatly combing the unshorn hair and tying it in a knot in the center of the head. The turban is then carefully tied across (wrapped) the head and the hair covered. You may research youtube to see how one is tied. Hope this helps. God bless.

Forgot to add: The turban is called a ‘pag’ or ‘pagri’ but the appropriate word would be ‘ Dastaar’ (pronounced Dus Tar’)

Dear Josh, you are a kind and gifted person, I just want to explain a few things, Sikhism is not a religion but a way of life, in the our holy book, Guru Granth Sahib Ji, it has the stanzas of muslim sufi pirs, sikh guru’s, hindu saints, what it is trying to tell is that all these guru’s and saints born in different times and different places are describing how to meet God and they all talk about the Shabad Guru (heavenly melody) they heard, naam ras (sweet nector) you can taste while meditating and how you enter the tenth gate the one that was open when you were in the womb of your mother and god was giving you instructions how to play the game and the rules when you will be born on earth. Sikh means to learn, and you will learn till you die only god is complete and knows all. The techonolgy of keeping hair is very deep, In the universe there is this cosmic enery and we are all connected with that, when you meditate and go into the state of numbness the energy enters from the top of your head, But if you had hair in form of a bun it will act like an antenna and will receive 10 times more of the cosmic energy and you will accelerate your goal to be with god, thats why the tenth master Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji established the rule to not cut your hair, in ancient times the yogies use to do hair buns POSITIONed at the top of the head otherwise it will take to long to complete your goal, the human life is the most presious don’t wast it. The kids wear a single cloth called a Dastar, it’s easy for them tie it and to participate in athletics. All you see here on earth is just a play, your real aim is to go back to home and unite with your reall father, mother “GOD”.
God bless my brother in divine.

“And I felt proud that the Sikh man gave me a handshake and a smile, knowing that it probably meant a lot to him to know that all Americans weren’t racially profiling his friends and family.”

You’re intentions are obviously good but I have a couple of points to raise with you.

1) You are essentially saying that you expect that it meant a lot to the man that you were not being racist! I hope you can see how patronising that is. The way this is described automatically puts you above the man.

2) What do you mean you weren’t sure if they were sikhs or arabs? Arabs are not muslims, do you know this? It is racist to refer to Muslims as Arabs. There are Arab Jews, Arab Muslims and Arab Christians to name a few. Read the wiki

Don’t give yourself such a big pat on the back just yet!

just came across your post randomly, your honesty is refreshing and the fact you know you are profiling to an extent shows you are aware of what you are doing?? but to an extent well all judge people from the tramp asking for change to the dark turban wearing dude!