Free Republic

KEYES (CBS13) – A well-known member of the Stanislaus County community was brutally beaten while placing campaign signs, and police are investigating it as a hate crime. It was Tuesday night in Keyes and 50-year-old Surjit Malhi had just placed his last sign at the corner of Foote and Keyes when he came upon two men waiting for him as returned to his truck. “As soon as I saw them they threw sand in my eyes,” Malhi said. And that was just the beginning of the attack. The two men proceeded to beat Malhi in the head, shoulders and neck....

A Sikh man says he was attacked and told to “go back to [his] country” in an incident that police in California are investigating as a hate crime.Surjit Malhi, 50, told Sacramento’s CBS13 that he was beaten last week by two men, who also allegedly spray-painted his truck with hate symbols, while he was posting campaign signs in support of Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) in Stanislaus County.Malhi told the CBS affiliate that the men threw sand in his eyes and brutally beat him in the head, shoulders and neck, while shouting: “Go back to your country!”“It’s very scary, you know,”...

New Jersey 101.5 has taken its mid-day hosts, Dennis Malloy and Judi Franco, off the air until further notice in light of comments about state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal made during Wednesday's show. "We are aware of the offensive comments made by Dennis and Judi during today’s broadcast," the station said Wednesday night. "We have taken immediate action and have taken them off the air until further notice. We are investigating the matter and will have further comment shortly."

Gov.-elect Phil Murphy will nominate Bergen County prosecutor Gurbir Grewal as the state's next attorney general, NJ Advance Media has learned. Grewal would be the nation's first Sikh attorney general. Murphy plans to announce his appointment at 11 a.m. in Trenton, according to three sources with knowledge of his decision. The sources were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter prior to the press conference and requested anonymity.

The New York Police Department is now allowing officers to wear beards and grow turbans in a bid to accommodate Sikh recruits. Sikh officers will be allowed to wear turbans in place of the traditional police cap and grow beards up to a half-inch long, which are required for religious reasons. Police Commissioner James O'Neill announced the new rules that affect all religious members on Wednesday following a graduation ceremony for new police recruits.

A Sikh bar owner in the US is being hailed as a hero for helping capture the 28-year old Afghan-American wanted for the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey.Harinder Bains, the owner of a bar in Linden found Ahmad Khan Rahami sleeping in the doorway of his bar on Monday. Bains said he was watching news on TV on his laptop from another business across the street. At first, he thought he was some "drunk guy" resting in the vestibule but then recognised Rahami and called police. "I'm just a regular citizen doing what every citizen should do....

I contacted my local Sikh temple to tell them that online conservatives are aware that Sikhs are often very concerned at times like this, that we try to educate and inform and are with them. I hope you do, too. Pardon the vanity, please.

In a decision by the U.S. Army Thursday, Capt. Simratpal Singh, a decorated Sikh-American officer and combat veteran, has received a long-term religious accommodation to serve with long hair, a beard, and turban in accordance with his Sikh faith. In December, Singh — a West Point graduate, Army Ranger, and Bronze Star recipient — received a temporary accommodation to serve in the military with his articles of faith intact. In March, a U.S. district judge issues a temporary restraining order against additional non-standard, discriminatory testing. According to The Sikh Coalition, which is representing Singh with The Becket Fund for Religious...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three Sikh American soldiers filed a lawsuit Mar. 29 asking the Defense Department to allow them to serve in the U.S. Army with their religiously-mandated turbans and beards intact. The plaintiffs are Army Specialists Kanwar Singh and Harpal Singh and Army Private Arjan Singh Ghotra. The lawsuit, filed by the Sikh Coalition, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and McDermott Will & Emery, demands that the Army accommodate their religious articles of faith, including turbans, unshorn hair and beards, so that each can begin Basic Combat Training with their various units in May. The lawsuit was filed...

Celebrity fashion designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia was not allowed to board a plane yesterday because he was wearing a turban. The Sikh American celebrity - who you may know from Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, several magazines' best-dressed lists, New York Fashion Week, and a famous Gap ad - tweeted about his experience as it was happening in an effort to raise awareness. While on his way to board an Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York City on Monday morning, Sikh American Ahluwalia was stopped by security personnel who asked him to remove his turban. As...

On his first day at the United States Military Academy at West Point, Simratpal Singh sat in a barber chair where new cadets get their hair buzzed short, forced to choose between showing his faith and living it. Cadet Singh had grown up a Sikh. As part of his faith, he had never cut his hair or beard. But his faith also encouraged protection of the oppressed, which inspired him to join the Army. The Army would not allow a soldier with long hair or a beard, so that day he watched his locks drop to the floor. “Your self-image,...

New York - In a hate crime, an elderly Sikh-American man was brutally assaulted and left with severe facial injuries by an assailant who yelled racial slurs like "terrorist" and "Bin Laden", just before the US commemorates the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Inderjit Singh Mukker of Chicago was assaulted on September 8 when the assailant pulled up to his car yelling racial slurs, including, "Terrorist, go back to your country, Bin Laden!" Advocacy group The Sikh Coalition said it spoke with Darien Police Chief Ernest Brown and were informed that authorities are investigating the case as a hate crime....

A bipartisan group of 28 influential lawmakers have establish the first Sikh-American Congressional Caucus in the House of Representatives, with the objective of fighting hate crimes against the community and to work towards enlisting them in the army. Formally launched at the Capitol Hill yesterday, the first ever Sikh-American Congressional caucus is co-chaired by Congresswoman Judy Chu from the Democratic Party and David G Valadao from the Republican. Attended by eminent Sikh American leaders and organisations from across the country, the lawmakers also hosted a reception at the Capitol Hill in the evening. "Sikhs are suffering because many people do...

WASHINGTON — Gov.-elect Nikki (Namrata Kaur Randhawa)Haley, the first Sikh-American to be elected governor in the US, moved onto the national stage Wednesday as she and other newly elected GOP governors met with Republican congressional leaders to craft strategies for devolving federal power back to the states. House Speaker-designate John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell chose Haley to lead off a crowded news conference at the U.S. Capitol after their closed-door meeting with 15 incoming GOP governors. “It is a great day today in D.C. because what you see is a coalition of governors who have gotten together...

The Army will make an exception to a decades-old rule and allow a Sikh doctor to serve without removing his turban and cutting his hair, an advocacy group said Friday. The doctor, Capt. Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi of Riverdale, N.J., is the first Sikh to be allowed to go on active duty with a turban, beard and unshorn hair in more than 20 years, the New York-based Sikh Coalition said.The decision does not overturn an Army policy from the 1980s that regulates the wearing of religious items, the acting deputy chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Gina Farrisee, wrote in a letter...

The kirpan, or ceremonial dagger, is worn by many devout Sikhs Sikh representatives will not attend an inter-faith meeting with Pope Benedict XVI when he visits the US next month.They say this is because the Pope's guards in the US will not allow them to wear their "kirpan" ceremonial daggers. Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist representatives are meeting the Pope in Washington. The kirpan must be worn by all baptised Sikhs (Khalsa), after an order issued by the faith's leader Guru Gobind Singh, in 1699. Sikhs are being replaced by representatives from the Jain religion at the ceremony. The...

A man has been charged with a hate crime for attacking a Sikh worshipper near a Gurudwara in Queens area in New York. David Wood, 36, allegedly approached Baljeet Singh, 63, on January14, screaming: "Arab, go back to your country", and beat him up as Singh parked his car outside the gurdwara. Wood, who lives near the gurdwara, was charged with second-degree assault as a hate crime, second and third degree assault and second-degree aggravated harassment. He is being held on a $10,000 bail and will return to court Jan 30. He faces up to 15 years in prison if...

BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA: Leading Democratic party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton may have severely damaged her position among Sikh supporters by abruptly cancelling an appearance as a guest of honour at Guru Nanak’s birthday celebrations which thousands of Sikhs attended here. What made the perceived put-off worse was the lack of a coherent explanation on Hillary’s part for the withdrawal. "We don’t know what the reason is," Tejpal Singh, a trucking company owner told the ‘New York Sun’. "They just tell us last night. ... Everybody’s shocked. They want to see her." According to him, two weeks ago Clinton had promised to...

Security concerns led to cancellation of a high-ticket fundraiser for Hillary Clinton originally scheduled for Sunday at the Kern County Fairgrounds. The breakfast event, sponsored by Bakersfield group Sikh Americans for Hillary '08, could have brought in more than $1.5 million to Clinton's presidential campaign coffers. One thousand tickets ranging from $1,500 to $2,300 a plate were on the table for the Democratic hopeful. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had been scheduled to appear. But security personnel who looked over the site, said Dr. Shivinder Deol, one of Clinton's local Sikh supporters, decided it was too risky.

If a radio station arranged for the showing of a certain film that day, would any of you like to come to Bakersfield? I understand that the breakfast is at the Kern County Fairgrounds. Someone needs to learn the use of the apostrophe: Sikh American's for Hillary