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Sikh drivers are transforming U.S. trucking. Take a ride along the Punjabi American highway
The Los Angeles Times ^ | June 27, 2019 | Jaweed Kaleem

Posted on 06/28/2019 7:54:45 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

It’s 7:20 p.m. when he rolls into Spicy Bite, one of the newest restaurants here in rural northwest New Mexico.

Locals in Milan, a town of 3,321, have barely heard of it.

The building is small, single-story, built of corrugated metal sheets. There are seats for 20. The only advertising is spray-painted on concrete roadblocks in English and Punjabi. Next door is a diner and gas station; the county jail is across the road.

Palwinder Singh orders creamy black lentils, chicken curry and roti, finishing it off with chai and cardamom rice pudding. After 13 hours on and off the road in his semi truck, he leans back in a booth as a Bollywood music video plays on TV.

“This is like home,” says Pal, the name he uses on the road (said like “Paul”).

There are 3.5 million truckers in the United States. California has 138,000, the second-most after Texas. Nearly half of those in California are immigrants, most from Mexico or Central America. But as drivers age toward retirement — the average American trucker is 55 — and a shortage grows, Sikh immigrants and their kids are increasingly taking up the job.

Estimates of the number of Sikh truckers vary. In California alone, tens of thousands of truckers trace their heritage to India. The state is home to half of the Sikhs in the U.S. — members of a monotheistic faith with origins in 15th century India whose followers are best recognized by the uncut hair and turbans many men wear. At Sikh temples in Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield and Riverside, the majority of worshipers are truck drivers and their families.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Food; History; Miscellaneous; Outdoors; Religion; Society; Travel
KEYWORDS: 2depressing4words; india; palwindersingh; punjab; sikhs; transportation; truckers; trucking; usa; yuck
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To: jmacusa

Actually, they have demanded special treatment in the military, to wear the turban and beards. I do not agree with that.

You are correct that they are not loafers and work hard. Again, I like them as a people, but until they become Americans and not just Sikhs living in America, I do not agree with them being here.


81 posted on 06/29/2019 3:54:50 PM PDT by CodeToad ( Hating on Trump is hating on me and Americans!)
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To: jmacusa

P.S. I also have a problem with the Amish. Same thing, they want special treatment.


82 posted on 06/29/2019 3:56:09 PM PDT by CodeToad ( Hating on Trump is hating on me and Americans!)
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To: CodeToad
Could say the same about Hasidic Jews.
83 posted on 06/29/2019 4:05:58 PM PDT by jmacusa ("If wisdom is not the Lord, what is wisdom?''.)
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To: Reno89519

...Brother, I am an SIKH AMERICAN myself.

...all we have to do is replace the constitutions of India and Pakistan with United States constitution, and most of them will rush back.

...we escaped totalitarian systems based on the totalitarian/stalinist Constitution of India


84 posted on 11/26/2020 5:48:26 AM PST by nick0786bazpur
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