May 15 2008
Sikh Kid’s Turban Set on Fire…Hate Crime or Bullying?
Yesterday, our blog staff came across news about a Sikh kid who’s turban was set on fire by another student at his High School. The kid suffered minor injuries, but probably is facing a tougher time dealing with his emotions related to such a situation.
Here is an excerpt from the online article found on The Sikh Coalition’s website:
(Hightstown, NJ) May 12, 2008 - New Jersey’s Sikh community is outraged after a fellow student set fire to the turban worn by the Sikh teenager in an unprovoked attack at school.
What Happened
The victim, who is a minor and would like to remain anonymous, is one of only two turban-wearing Sikhs attending Hightstown High School in New Jersey. On Monday, May 5, 2008, the school held a fire drill and all students were instructed to gather on the school playground. The Sikh student was chatting to his friends when a student he did not know came up behind him and set fire to his patka using a lighter.The Sikh student “felt something hot” on his head and immediately patted his patka to put out the flames. Disaster was averted, but a great deal of emotional damage had already been done.
“No mother should have to worry that her child could be hurt at school because of the way he looks,” said Sukhjot Kaur, the teenager’s mother.
Is this a form of hate crime or do you think this is a case of high school bullying? Either way, it still needs to be addressed seriously. Please leave your comments and thoughts.
More importantly, how can we support our South Asian youth in these types of situations? How can we offer them the confidence they need to build the strength to face these types of situations?
To the kid…stand tall buddy, and be proud of who you are. You’ve got lots of people behind you.
This is unbelievable! I really hope they discipline whoever committed this act very harshly. This type of behavior is unacceptable and should not be tolerated.
That is horrible! I cannot believe that something like that would happen. Hate crime or bullying, how do you set someone on fire! that’s crazy! The culprit should definetly be punished!
As for what the South Asian community can do, there is strength in numbers. You cannot help the acts of ignorant people around us, but you can stand tall as a community and make it known that we’re not here to be run over! His support system up there should go full force and make it a big deal even if it was minor injuries. Make it more of an issue than it is to let the community know that if one gets bullied, there’s a whole fleet of people to stand behind him and stand up for him.
I agree with the strength by numbers. I feel as though within our community, we have the ability to really grab attention and show that we don’t tolerate such acts. Especially in this situation, we cannot continue to sit back and just hope the kid recovers emotionally…we need to show him and other younger (and older) South Asians that we stand together as a community (similar to the NAACP and other types of organizations).
I think the local organization up there should see to it that the kid who performed this act be handled accordingly. And what’s going on with the parents? I think they should be held accountable too if he is under 17. At least require them to offer some type of public apology on behalf of their child if the kid is unwilling to do it himself.