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Hard Talk Toronto Youtube Star Jus Reign Was Forced To Remove His Turban At A California Airport

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On Sunday night I was taking a flight back from San Francisco to Toronto and was stopped by security at San Francisco Airport and ordered into additional screening. Now this is nothing new to me, as I'm a brown dude who flies quite often and these types of extra screening and searchings are regular occurrences. In this specific case however I was asked to remove my turban so it could go through an additional extra check (on top of being x-rayed and metal detected already). Naturally my first inclination was to say nahhhhhh, because I had a flight to catch and taking off a turban and tying it back on before a flight would be extremely inconvenient. I asked to have a pat down instead (i get my clothes patted down, and those too are made of cloth, and I'm never asked to remove those) But the manager insisted that either I would take off my turban and let it through additional security or I would be escorted back into the public area and I could book a flight with a different airline or airport. They had provided a private screening room for me to do so, and after they had done a complete body search and scanned my turban through another x-ray... they came back and told me I was good to go.

just-reign.jpg


It was at this point I asked for a mirror to retie my turban again, because unlike a hat or a shoe, tying a turban back on takes time and skill (great skill, only the manliest of men know what I'm talking about here)... plus I gotta make sure i look extra crispy and good ALWAYS (my motto in life... most of the time when I'm not lazy of course).The officials responded that they don't provide mirrors and one of them had even told me to walk down the nearest bathroom at the other end of the terminal, in public, without my turban on. Which completely defeats the purpose of being in a private room in the first place... why "undress" me and then tell me to walk out "undressed" to the nearest bathroom to retie my turban again??? WHAT WAS THE POINT?

Now there have been cases where I have shown myself without a turban on videos etc, most notably when I made a turban tying tutorial, so it wasn't too abnormal for me. But I can imagine anyone else in my position who had to go through the same thing, someone who values the turban at a great degree, and how embarrassing and demoralizing the whole scenario would be, since it already was loads for me.

The turban is a sign of royalty, respect, dignity, courage and has a huge cultural and spiritual significance for many Punjabis and Sikhs.

I followed all the security protocols, asked whatever they wanted me to do, so the issue isn't JUST with the fact that I was asked to remove the turban (however silly it still is) but with the lack of respect and insensitivity when I asked for a simple request like a mirror to tie it back on again.

I've included an article that also talks about the ordeal and many thanks to the media today for covering at well. Hopefully we can provide some level of education to these security officials and avoid these types of situations again.

also fun fact: no one has ever found anything dangerous in a turban... ever.

http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/toro...a-california-airport?utm_source=vicetwitterca
 

Harry Haller

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also fun fact: no one has ever found anything dangerous in a turban... ever.

not quite true.....

When I was younger, I had a fascination for radio control cars, I built my own, painted them, raced them, had a lot of fun.

Once we were at my cousins house, and my cousin left his heavily starched turban on the table and went downstairs, I quickly managed to remove the chassis from a small radio BMW model car, and sat the turban down on the running gear and waited, luckily, cousin did not notice that his turban was the right way up, rather than upside down, and walked over to retrieve it, as I accelerated the turban away from him and then stopped, the look on his face, was of course, priceless, he reached for it again, it moved, he then took a swing at it, and I pushed the forward button as far as it would go, the turban almost did a wheelie, and accelerated off the table it was on, towards the bed, it all seemed to happen in slow motion, the turban lifted off, and arced in the air towards the bed, as the look of disbelief etched into my cousins face, I have a distinct memory of him shouting 'Noooooooooooooooooooo' as the running gear dropped out of the turban and kept going towards the bed, whilst the turban itself, now being under no power, started to drop towards the floor,

he would beg to differ.
 

Inderjeet Kaur

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Once we were at my cousins house, and my cousin left his heavily starched turban on the table and went downstairs, I quickly managed to remove the chassis from a small radio BMW model car, and sat the turban down on the running gear and waited, luckily, cousin did not notice that his turban was the right way up, rather than upside down, and walked over to retrieve it, as I accelerated the turban away from him and then stopped, the look on his face, was of course, priceless, he reached for it again, it moved, he then took a swing at it, and I pushed the forward button as far as it would go, the turban almost did a wheelie, and accelerated off the table it was on, towards the bed, it all seemed to happen in slow motion, the turban lifted off, and arced in the air towards the bed, as the look of disbelief etched into my cousins face, I have a distinct memory of him shouting 'Noooooooooooooooooooo' as the running gear dropped out of the turban and kept going towards the bed, whilst the turban itself, now being under no power, started to drop towards the floor,
Law of People in Large Groups: 10% are really good, 10% are really evil, and the rest are just sort of muddling along.

Harry, you are in the evil 10% and you shall never be forgiven by whoever has the job of forgiving. I know someone who ties a small and very sharp kirpan in his turban, but not when he's going to the airport.

I have never tried to board a plane while I am with turban, but I have with scarf/chunni, and I am always getting selected for a random screening. I have never asked for a private room because it's hard for me to walk, but I feel JusReign's pain. This is so stupid and so unnecessary. It is prejudicial bullying. I am annoyed. :angrysingh:

Just for the record, I have been bullied at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and SeaTac International Airport, famous amongst Sikhs. SFO further bullied me by not allowing me to use my cane going through security, which was both painful and dangerous for me. :angrykudi:
 

ActsOfGod

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Aug 13, 2012
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Harry, you are in the evil 10% and you shall never be forgiven by whoever has the job of forgiving.

Oh, I don't know if I'd go that far. Sure, Harryji is irreverent, sometimes even obnoxious, and probably disrespectful. But I wouldn't classify him as "evil". Not at all. On the contrary, whenever I think about him (and I was just this morning after having finished paaht), I always have feelings of gratitude for his particular guidance and help to me personally. You could say, I am eternally grateful.

And after all, who are we to criticize or judge another being? Guru Sahib advises us thus:

ਸੂਹੀ ਮਹਲਾ ਘਰੁ
Soohee, First Mehl, Second House:

ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ
One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The True Guru:

ਅੰਤਰਿ
ਵਸੈ ਬਾਹਰਿ ਜਾਇ
Deep within the self, the Lord abides; do not go outside looking for Him.

ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤੁ
ਛੋਡਿ ਕਾਹੇ ਬਿਖੁ ਖਾਇ ॥੧॥
You have renounced the Ambrosial Nectar - why are you eating poison? ||1||

ਐਸਾ
ਗਿਆਨੁ ਜਪਹੁ ਮਨ ਮੇਰੇ
Meditate on such spiritual wisdom, O my mind,

ਹੋਵਹੁ
ਚਾਕਰ ਸਾਚੇ ਕੇਰੇ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ
and become the slave of the True Lord. ||1||Pause||

ਗਿਆਨੁ
ਧਿਆਨੁ ਸਭੁ ਕੋਈ ਰਵੈ
Everyone speaks of wisdom and meditation;

ਬਾਂਧਨਿ
ਬਾਂਧਿਆ ਸਭੁ ਜਗੁ ਭਵੈ ॥੨॥
but bound in bondage, the whole world is wandering around in confusion. ||2||

ਸੇਵਾ
ਕਰੇ ਸੁ ਚਾਕਰੁ ਹੋਇ
One who serves the Lord is His servant.

ਜਲਿ
ਥਲਿ ਮਹੀਅਲਿ ਰਵਿ ਰਹਿਆ ਸੋਇ ॥੩॥
The Lord is pervading and permeating the water, the land, and the sky. ||3||

ਹਮ
ਨਹੀ ਚੰਗੇ ਬੁਰਾ ਨਹੀ ਕੋਇ
I am not good; no one is bad.

ਪ੍ਰਣਵਤਿ
ਨਾਨਕੁ ਤਾਰੇ ਸੋਇ ॥੪॥੧॥੨॥
Prays Nanak, He alone saves us! ||4||1||2||
 

Inderjeet Kaur

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Oct 13, 2011
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Oh, I don't know if I'd go that far. Sure, Harryji is irreverent, sometimes even obnoxious, and probably disrespectful. But I wouldn't classify him as "evil". Not at all. On the contrary, whenever I think about him (and I was just this morning after having finished paaht), I always have feelings of gratitude for his particular guidance and help to me personally. You could say, I am eternally grateful.

Harry knows me well enough to know that I'm just giving him a hard time. We've been friends for quite a few years now and I expect some sort of smart alec response from him. Like, "Look who's talking!" followed by a list (probably padded of my many transgressions, or a link to the very strange book I sent him next week.

It's unfortunate that voice tone , facial expression and body language are invisible online. I'm sorry if I upset you, harry.
 

Harry Haller

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Jan 31, 2011
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Oh, I don't know if I'd go that far. Sure, Harryji is irreverent, sometimes even obnoxious, and probably disrespectful. But I wouldn't classify him as "evil". Not at all. On the contrary, whenever I think about him (and I was just this morning after having finished paaht), I always have feelings of gratitude for his particular guidance and help to me personally. You could say, I am eternally grateful.

yes, I am a shining beacon on how not to be, I Intend to charge money to show up at various Sikh gatherings so the kids can see 'this is what happens when you do your own thing!", :)

Harry knows me well enough to know that I'm just giving him a hard time. We've been friends for quite a few years now and I expect some sort of smart alec response from him. Like, "Look who's talking!" followed by a list (probably padded of my many transgressions, or a link to the very strange book I sent him next week.

It's unfortunate that voice tone , facial expression and body language are invisible online. I'm sorry if I upset you, harry.

I saw your smile as you were writing it, who says facial expression and body language are invisible!
 
Jan 9, 2012
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For Heaven's sake, couldn't he simply have put a mirror app on a tablet? Why did this have to be a "story" at all?! My 7" tablet does the job jus' fine!
 

ActsOfGod

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Aug 13, 2012
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For Heaven's sake, couldn't he simply have put a mirror app on a tablet? Why did this have to be a "story" at all?! My 7" tablet does the job jus' fine!

You missed the whole point.

Consider: At this time in history, in America, Sikhs and Middle Easterners are about at the same place (in terms of civil rights) where the Blacks were in the in 1960's.

Repeatedly being unfairly singled out for "random" searches because you supposedly fit a (faulty to begin with) profile is NOT ok.

Wake up @Awakeand Singh!

[AoG]
 

Inderjeet Kaur

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Oct 13, 2011
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You missed the whole point.

Consider: At this time in history, in America, Sikhs and Middle Easterners are about at the same place (in terms of civil rights) where the Blacks were in the in 1960's.

Repeatedly being unfairly singled out for "random" searches because you supposedly fit a (faulty to begin with) profile is NOT ok.

Wake up @Awakeand Singh!

[AoG]
I see two different, related issues, the "random" search and being compelled to walk through the airport without his turban.

Neither should occur, but since the first did, he could have done damage control with his phone, as suggested, to avoid the second. Of course, there should have been a mirror in the inspection room, but can we reasonably expect these cretins, I mean TSA agents to be thoughtful of turbaned Sikhs?

The other problem is much more difficult because it involves changing attitudes. I think our attention needs to be focused there. I've already written about my experiences and really don't have much more to say.
 

ActsOfGod

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Neither should occur, but since the first did, he could have done damage control with his phone, as suggested, to avoid the second.

It should not be incumbent upon the Sikh whose rights were violated to do "damage control". He didn't exacerbate the problem, he tried to deal with it as best as could, but there are limits. Ask any white passenger to walk around the airport without a shirt/pants/jacket/whatever on and watch the outcry that will happen.

Of course, there should have been a mirror in the inspection room, but can we reasonably expect these cretins, I mean TSA agents to be thoughtful of turbaned Sikhs?

Yes, absolutely. Are they not employees of the Federal Government? They are accountable and must be held to standards. Giving them a free pass for their behavior is part of the problem.

Until you demand fair treatment, you will always be discriminated against and treated unjustly. They need to start treating Sikhs with the same amount of respect and consideration as all the other passengers (i.e. the typical "white anglo saxon persons").

The other problem is much more difficult because it involves changing attitudes. I think our attention needs to be focused there. I've already written about my experiences and really don't have much more to say.

What's wrong is wrong. Telling the Sikh that he somehow deserved it or that he brought it upon himself by dressing or looking different is prejudice. To be very clear, what happened to Jus Reign was discriminatory and racist. Anyone who tries to pin the blame on Jus Reign is contributing the the very attitudes that need to be changed.

[AoG]
 
Jan 9, 2012
78
107
It should not be incumbent upon the Sikh whose rights were violated to do "damage control". He didn't exacerbate the problem, he tried to deal with it as best as could, but there are limits. Ask any white passenger to walk around the airport without a shirt/pants/jacket/whatever on and watch the outcry that will happen.



Yes, absolutely. Are they not employees of the Federal Government? They are accountable and must be held to standards. Giving them a free pass for their behavior is part of the problem.

Until you demand fair treatment, you will always be discriminated against and treated unjustly. They need to start treating Sikhs with the same amount of respect and consideration as all the other passengers (i.e. the typical "white anglo saxon persons").



What's wrong is wrong. Telling the Sikh that he somehow deserved it or that he brought it upon himself by dressing or looking different is prejudice. To be very clear, what happened to Jus Reign was discriminatory and racist. Anyone who tries to pin the blame on Jus Reign is contributing the the very attitudes that need to be changed.

[AoG]
The truth is that just about anyone who wears any kind of head covering will be asked to remove it (maybe not in the case of a Catholic nun wearing a habit, and maybe not in the case of a hijab or burqa, what with the current paranoia about appearing, " Islamophobic"), despite the efficiency of the scanner. Really, since there has been a case of a terrorist carrying a bomb in his underwear you'd think that removing underwear should be as standard a procedure as removing shoes! Somehow, I don't think the TSA is gonna go that route, but it certainly makes more sense than checking headgear, since, as far as I'm aware, no one has yet tried to smuggle a weapon that way.

My point is, knowing of the possibility/probability of such an "extra security" check being demanded, shouldn't one take the extra precaution of carrying a mirror of some sort, or at least a small parna or patka? Failing even that, it's certainly possible to tie the turban well enough to get you across the hall to the washroom and a mirror. There was absolutely no reason to have to go bareheaded in public, if that's the issue.

And, while we're on the subject, did the Sikh warriors carry mirrors as part of their battle gear, without which they would have been unable to tie those great big turbans we always see in the pictures?
 

ActsOfGod

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Aug 13, 2012
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The truth is that just about anyone who wears any kind of head covering will be asked to remove it (maybe not in the case of a Catholic nun wearing a habit, and maybe not in the case of a hijab or burqa, what with the current paranoia about appearing, " Islamophobic"), despite the efficiency of the scanner.

So in effect what you're saying is, any kind of head covering is fair game for removal except a Catholic nuns habit, or a hijab or burqa.

Awesome.
 

ActsOfGod

Writer
SPNer
Aug 13, 2012
387
527
My point is, knowing of the possibility/probability of such an "extra security" check being demanded, shouldn't one take the extra precaution of carrying a mirror of some sort, or at least a small parna or patka? Failing even that, it's certainly possible to tie the turban well enough to get you across the hall to the washroom and a mirror. There was absolutely no reason to have to go bareheaded in public, if that's the issue.

Just curious, how many of these security checks have you been subjected to? And for how long a period in your life? (meaning, have you had to deal with this your whole life, a few years, a few months, or rarely?)

The point that you're missing is that it's about discrimination and prejudice, not "having to go bareheaded in public". The fact that you're missing the point is disturbing. It means you don't see it. And if you don't see it, it's a non-issue for you.

Furthermore, is a washroom really the right place for one to be tying your Dastaar? Where people are defecating and urinating only a few feet away?
 

Harry Haller

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Jan 31, 2011
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So in effect what you're saying is, any kind of head covering is fair game for removal except a Catholic nuns habit, or a hijab or burqa.

Awesome.

I think what he is saying is that there is a fine line between being precious and being insulted.
 

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