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Summary of Question:	A Sikh's Profile
Category:	Other
Date Posted:	Wednesday, 4/14/2004 4:25 PM MDT

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!!

A couple of weeks ago, an event happened at a Miami night club were a sardar and a friend went after dinner. The sardar was not allowed in the night club because of a "no hats" rule (he explained the dastar was not a hat, but a religious symbol). Now legal drama is unfolding in the State of Florida and the Sikh community feels as though they have suffered another wound, which the strong Sikh community will overcome.

I guess I am just writing with feelings of frustration. In France, Sikhs and other religious groups are being banned from wearing dastars, skullcaps, hijabs, etc. Here in the United States (and even in India, the BIRTHPLACE OF OUR RELIGION- where sikhs should be STRONGER and weaker and more submissive) we have this freedom and some of us cut off our hair without thinking twice while our brothers and sisters are fighting for their religous liberties. I was extremely disheartened when the cohort (who apparently keeps his hear in a bandana under a backwards baseball cap) in the news story said, "The reason I wear a bandana is that people down here can be pretty cruel and I try to blend in." How sad I feel when I read that comment. Guru Gobind Singh established the identity of the Khalsa so that we wouldn't blend in. That everyone could look at the dastars on our head and know what we stood for and who we are.

I guess I feel like the odd one out because I don't feel sorry for the person being kicked out of the nightclub. I'm glad he was kicked out and actually feel as though the Guru was intervening himself to protect the identity of the Khalsa and the Sikhs. The symbol of the dastar is purity and the person was going into an alcoholic bar. Perhaps he really shouldn't have been there. I know no Sikh should be denied his civil liberties and that perhaps he wasn't going there to drink but I don't know..i can't explain these feelings. I have fought hard to share the wealth of our religion with my community but I feel as though people like this tarnish our reputation. Other people who read and learn more and more about Sikhism ask questions like, "Well, what was he doing in an alcoholic nightclub anyway? Isn't that against your faith?" I feel frustrated when people make comments like I thought a Sikh was defined with their outward appearance as well as their inside. They ask questions like how a mona sikh is the same as a keshdhari sikh and I don't know what to say anymore. I don't understand why people are trying to assimilate and are forgetting the religion that we gained so expensively. I pray every night for Waheguru to keep the Sikh quom strong and for Sikhs to realize the uniqueness and the wealth of our religion.

Thank you for listening.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!