Pannu was forced to remove his turban by TSA personnel.
AB Wire
NEW YORK: No amount of sensitivity training seems to work for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel, as far as Sikhs are concerned. In yet another incident of a turbaned Sikh male being humiliated at an airport, Karanveer Singh Pannu, author of the book ‘Bullying of Sikh American Children: Through the Eyes of a Sikh American High School Student,’ was forced to remove his turban at Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, California, Sunday night.
“I had gone to talk about my book as an inspirational speaker to address all the kids participating in the annual Sikh Youth Symposium — a public speaking competition being held in Bakersfield, California,” the Indian American Pannu said, reported NBC. He also spoke at the Sikh Peace Parade in Bakersfield, he said.
Pannu said that after going through the metal detector at the airport, he was asked to do a self-pat down of his turban and a chemical swab test for explosive material. After a positive swab test, he was taken to a secondary screening room to be given a full pat down and was asked to remove his turban to be further scanned.
“I refused at first but when they threatened me that I could not fly, I agreed, provided they gave me a mirror to retie my turban,” Pannu said. “Before I removed my turban, Agent Hernandez asked the dreaded asinine question, ‘Is there anything we need to be aware of before you remove your turban?’ I politely answered that there is a lot of long hair and something called the brain underneath.”
A TSA spokesperson told NBC News that the TSA declines to comment on the specifics of any individual passenger’s screening experience, but that all TSA officers and contracted screeners are trained to treat all passengers with dignity and respect and receive periodic training regarding cultural and religious sensitivities. When additional screening requires the removal of religious apparel, officers offer a private room. In 2007, TSA revised its screening procedures for head coverings based on discussions with the Sikh community.
Pannu said he felt “utterly humiliated, shaken, distraught” by the experience.
In February of this year, Sikh comedian and YouTube star Jusmeet singh aka Jus Reign, said that TSA personnel made him take off his turban in private during a screening process, then walk in public with his bare head to retie the traditional head covering in the bathroom, at the San Francisco International Airport.
“I’ve flown many times before and never been asked to remove my turban,” Singh had then said. “I asked if it’s okay if I leave it on” and the agents could “pat it down,” he said. They refused, reported NBC News.
In a Skype interview from Ottawa, Canada where he was on his way to perform a comedy routine Tuesday night, Singh reiterated his story, saying he had no problem with taking off the turban but felt a “lack of respect” by agents who didn’t seem to realize that forcing him to put the head covering back on in public is “embarrassing” for most Sikhs. “Asking a Sikh man to take off his turban in public is like asking a regular person to take off their pants in public.”
Even Sikh diplomats have not been spared of embarrassment at the hands of TSA personnel.
In November, 2010, India’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Hardeep singh Puri, faced the same humiliation, at the Austin, Texas airport. That was days after India’s ambassador to the US Meera Shankar was patted down at an airport, raising the ire of India.