Aakre is the director of legal affairs for the Sikh advocacy group ‘Sikh Coalition’.
Washington:
Noted human rights expert Amrit Kaur Aakre told US lawmakers that religious discrimination and hate crimes against the Sikh community have increased in the US. Simultaneously, he urged the administration and the US Congress to take steps to end it. Aakre gave this information to members of the House Judicial Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties during a recent Congressional hearing on discrimination and civil rights.
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Aakre is the director of legal affairs for the Sikh advocacy group ‘Sikh Coalition’. “The biased interpretation of government policies and laws harms Sikhs in public and private sector jobs, including transportation, entertainment, health care, military and law enforcement,” he said. “We have seen that Sikhs are sometimes ordered to cut their hair for work-related investigations, even though the alternative is readily available,” he said.
Aakre said that from time to time, many policies are interpreted in a way that disproportionately affects minority communities and the country’s system allows it to happen. Meanwhile, MP Sheila Jackson Lee said, “Sikh boys wearing turbans are called terrorists and girls are harassed for having long hair. Many such children are also victims of violence. In one of our studies, it has been found that more than 50 percent of Sikh children have faced harassment by other students in school.
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MP Pramila Jayapal said the 9/11 attacks changed the meaning of being a Muslim, Arab or South Asian American in America forever. She said she hopes that after this hearing many people will take steps to investigate and ultimately end the policies of the 9/11 era that have perpetuated and greatly increased discrimination against these communities. .
(This news has not been edited by NDTV team. It has been published directly from Syndicate feed.)
