Religious Discrimination

In an article titled: "My Turban: Made in the USA" published on November 30, 2012 in the Los Angeles Times author, Dilveer Singh Vahali, writes about how being Sikhs in America are constantly and discriminated against. As a Sikh Vahali is mandated by his religion to wear a turban and keep a beard, however, unfortunately, because of the way he looks, Vahali is often taunted by onlookers and called a terrorist. Just in this past year several Sikhs have been murdered or assaulted as a part of brutal hate crimes. There has been recent progress however in the effort to make Americans respect and recognize the Sikhs who have been a part of their culture for over one hundred years. November was California's first Sikh Awareness month and in January, California's Workplace Religious Freedom Act goes into action. Which protects the rights of workers and job applicants to wear religious clothing or hairstyles. This is a positive step towards raising awareness for minorities that are discriminated against for showing their faith in their appearance such as, Jews, Muslims, and of course Sikhs. America is a land of religious freedom, therefore no religious groups should ever be taunted for "wearing" their faith.