67% of Sikhs experience bullying in the US.
By Sreekanth A Nair
Karanveer Singh Pannu, an 18-year-old Indian American student based in Voorhees, New Jersey has written a book about bullying of Sikh-American children based on the life experiences of him and many others.
Pannu, a student at Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees, has also come up with some suggestions and solutions to the issue of bullying based on the advice of child psychologists.
“Sikh-American youth are largely unrepresented and do not seem to have a voice on the national stage or in the media, especially when it comes to bullying,” Pannu told NBC News.
“I wanted to help in any way I could to alleviate this pain and suffering which children from my faith go through on a daily basis,” he added.
The book titled ‘Bullying of Sikh-American children: Through the eyes of a Sikh-American high school student’ explains the Sikh faith, its origin, evolution and the importance of turban in the faith. It also briefs about the history of Sikhs in the US.
“The young author has done an extraordinary job through detailed survey to find the current status of bullying among children in the Sikh American community. He then interviewed several mental health professionals to get practical solutions in order to mitigate bullying,” Chairperson of American Sikh Council (ASC) Gulbarg Singh was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
Details of the results of the survey conducted by Pannu of Sikh-American children about their experiences are also included in the book.
Studies show that almost 67% of Sikh children wearing a turban are bullied in the US and they are often called Bin Laden.
NBC news quoted Pannu as saying, “A couple of days ago, a very emotional mother called me and thanked me profusely for writing this book. She wanted to help me in any way in order to get the book into the hands of the school authorities. Another non-Sikh reader after reading the book is gifting a book to the local school library.”