IT'S SCREW THE HOMELESS DAY IN SEATTLE

or...POLICE DESTROY SHANTYTOWN IN SEATTLE, AMERICA

Latest news, as of two hours ago.

Today I am backflashing to my activist days in the 1960s and 1970s. In just one day, today, I have been protesting an unjust war, writing letters - e-mails, actually - about that Wall Street bail out to rescue greedy capitalists and now, advocating for the homeless. Then Bhenji Shanu Kaur wrote a comment, "Right on!" I am tempted to respond with the typical 1960-70s "Power To The People!" Tempted, but I'll refrain, as most of my readers were born at least a decade after all this excitement.

Today, in the 'richest country in the world' I am watching a tent city that was becoming a shanty town being destroyed by the police. As I write, the first homeless people here are being arrested and taken to jail I see a cop entering a pink tent. (These pink tens were given to the homeless by the Girls Scouts of America, donated from a breast cancer march, hence the colour pink.)

The residents have named their settlement "Nickelsville," after Greg Nickels, mayor of Seattle. I have even found a website about this called, "Welcome to Nickelsville."


Earlier today, their port-a-potties, the toilets were removed, much to the dismay, especially, of the women.


Some residents had started constructing semipermanent structures out of donated lumber. All this on city-owned vacant land.

Unlike some of the other sweeps arresting the homeless, the arrests are going peacefully, the police not being violent and the homeless, who have chosen to stay and be arrested, going peacefully as they are arrested. Of course, this is all on live TV. Now the broadcast station is ending its coverage; they are switching to cable coverage, much less visible, but still live on TV. I think I'll stay and watch, skip the courtroom shows that are usually on at this time.

This has been a bit disjointed, I realise; a write-as-it-happens report tends to be. Now the cable news in talking about the presidential debate tonight, so there is no live coverage right now. I assume, though, the reporters are still there taping.

To go to the beginning. It is estimated that there are about 2000 homeless people - I believe that to be a very low estimate, as homeless people are very hard to count - in Seattle. This may seem a small number compared to India, but the United States of America is not India. There are sufficient funds here to provide decent housing, food, health care, all the necesseities of life to all the people. Of course, financing America's foreign adventures is leeching a tremendous amount of resources from the country. This action today is a political protest. The residents of Nickelsville were given warning to move. The cry of "Move where?" led to this protest. There is a nearby parking lot, belonging to the state, not the city, where some have set up their tents, after the governor, Christine Gregoire, told them they could stay there 5-7 days. Then what?

Now we have the Wall Street meltdown to contend with, as well. According to President Cokehead Warmonger, Congress is supposed to allocate $700,000,000,000 (IR32,525,500,106,820 - I realise the commas are in the wrong places for Indian numbers. Live with it. This is a copy/paste from the Yahoo currency converter. I include the link because it is a useful converter of many different currencies.) to bail out big companies. As I understand it, this bill will not stop foreclosures on people's homes as much as it will aid the already super-rich. This remains to be seen.

Back to these homeless people in America, hundreds of thousands or even millions? Many, many, maybe most are mentally ill people who are unable to financially support themselves in a capitalist economy. Some are criminals who have served their sentences and now cannot find employment. The remainder are people who just don't have the resources to pay rent. Most of these people are men and women - and their children - who lost their jobs, for one reason or another and then lost their homes, either from in ability to pay rent or through foreclosure when they couldn't pay the mortgage. Some of these people have exhausted their savings, but most are people who survive from one check to the next, like me. "There but for the grace of God go I." OK, I admit I exaggerate a bit; my family would never permit me to live in a tent city or in a cardboard box under a bridge. But I hope the point has been made. Shall we all sing a rousing chorus of 'We Shall Overcome'? No, actually
I think "We Shall Not Be Moved" fits this one better. (That link contains a lot of great folk and protest songs.)


We shall not, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved

We're young and old together, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved

CHORUS

We're women and men together, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved

CHORUS

We'll live in peace and dignity, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's standing by the water
We shall not be moved

We're black and white together we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's standing by the water
We shall not be moved

yes, everyone together we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved


We'll overcome Greg Nickels, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved .


Feel free to write your own verses; as you can see, I have.

Most of the homeless, whether mentally ill or unemployed or underemployed, are just people who have committed the ultimate crime in America - worse than murder, rape, child molestation, worse than the vilest crimes - these are people who have no money.

I feel ill.

--
WHY TRY TO FIT IN? YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!

Montreal School Boy Suspended Without Investigation

It appears that the report of a few days ago was in error. According to United Sikhs, a group I highly respect, the school boy not only did not threaten anyone with his kirpan, but he himself was the victim of bullying. Nevertheless, the Sikh boy is the one suspended from school with no investigation on the part of the authorities.

Is this yet another example - this time in my hometown of Montreal - of a Sikh student being bullied with no consequences to the bullies?

I am personally breathing a sigh of relief that, as far as I can ascertain, this was not the disrespectful misuse of the kirpan by a school child. However, I think we need to face the possibility, even the probability that some hot-headed Sikh student will be pressed past the point of his/her personal endurance and actually does pull a kirpan on a fellow student, albeit a bully. I remember a time in elementary school when I was bullied, the teachers refused to stop it and my bully ended up with a broken arm, courtesy of me. Fortunately, I was a very cute little girl and the bully was a very mean kid actually known as Billy the Bully; he got in trouble and I was exonerated of any blame. The only weapon I used, however, was my own body and knowledge of how to protect myself.

But considering the use of the kirpan, how should we react? Is there anything we can do proactively as a community to prepare to handle such a situation and protect the legal protection, very hard won, to carry the kirpan?

I will point out that the misuse of the kirpan has precedence. I think of the disgusting, disgraceful display in Punjab a while back, and the equally disturbing disputes in gurdwaras degenerating into violence. These are very bad examples that we adults are setting for our children. Remember, elders, our children are watching and learning from everything we older Sikhs do. We need to look to our own behaviour, as well.

From United Sikhs:

Press Release: 23rd Sept 2008, Tuesday 9th Assu (Samvat 540 Nanakshahi )

Sikh Child Suspended Indefinitely by Montreal School Without Investigation

Independent Eye-Witnesses to Incident Report Sikh Never Touched kirpan; Several Media Outlets Misreporting Incident


Montreal, Quebec, Canada: A thirteen-year-old Sikh boy was suspended from school on September 11th after being accused of threatening another student outside school with his kirpan (a short steel or iron blade that is carried as one of five articles of faith). The school in Le Salle suspended the Sikh student without properly investigating the matter, as it has become apparent that multiple independent eye-witnesses to the incident confirm that the Sikh boy never touched his kirpan. UNITED SIKHS is assisting the family by working with local Montreal Sikh community activists and eminent human-rights lawyer Julius Grey to have the Sikh boy's suspension lifted and also to thwart incorrect media reports which have misreported the incident and are using it to reignite the debate about the kirpan in Montreal schools.

The incident occurred when a few students, including the Sikh boy, left school for lunch. Two boys followed the students and began taunting and bullying the Sikh boy, as they have on numerous occasions in the past. When the Sikh boy was adjusting his loose pants, the bullies notice the boy's kirpan, which was securely wrapped in a long cloth and had multiple rubber-bands around it. Upon returning to school, the Sikh boy and another student reported the bullying incident to their teacher, who responded that she would investigate the matter, but did not have time today. Shortly thereafter, police arrived at the school and began questioning the Sikh boy. It is believed that the bullies reported that the Sikh boy threatened them with his kirpan to their mother, who in turn called the police. The Sikh boy was suspended by the school for an indefinite period of time, and police have yet to file any charges.

Assuming the allegations against the Sikh boy were true, the Montreal Gazette, among other news agencies, reported that the incident "raises questions about [the] court ruling," referring to the Multani decision in which the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the right of Sikh children to wear the kirpan to school in 2006.

Commenting on the school commission's hasty decision to suspend the boy without investigating the incident, Julius Grey, the lawyer representing the family stated, "It appears that there is no substance whatsoever to these claims, and I am shocked at the cavalier way the [Sikh] boy has been treated when in fact independent witnesses confirm these allegations are false. This is an attempt to undo the kirpan case [Multani] without any legitimate reason."

Initially concerned that the allegations were true, UNITED SIKHS contacted the family who were already receiving assistance from local Sikh community activists involved with the Multani case in 2006, including Chattar Singh, Kiranpal Singh, and Hardev Singh. After speaking with those involved and determining that it was necessary to take immediate action, we contacted Julius Grey, who held conference with the family, representatives from the local Sikh community, and UNITED SIKHS on Friday and immediately issued a letter to the school demanding that the Sikh boy be allowed to return to school.

The school, citing formal notice from Sikh student's attorney, cancelled a meeting with the Sikh student's parents and stated that they will need to meet internally about the matter. "What is particularly troublesome about the school's reaction to the bullying incident is that school officials have allowed their prejudices against the kirpan to override their duty to properly investigate this serious matter. The same prejudices are now hindering them from allowing the Sikh student back in school after independent witnesses to the incident have come forward showing that the allegations are false," remarked Jaspreet Singh, Staff Attorney for UNITED SIKHS.

Commenting on the incident, Manjit Singh, Director of Chaplaincy Services, McGill University and one of the advisors to the family stated, "The reason why our community is being treated in such an inconsiderate manner by the school is because the education system in Quebec previously only focused on the Judeo-Christian tradition with the result that those people in decision making roles do not have an understanding of Sikhism. That is our challenge."

The father of the accused, Kamaljeet Singh, expressed distress at his son's suspension stating, "My son's education is suffering because of these false allegations. Wearing the kirpan is taken very seriously and it is preposterous that my son would threaten anyone with this most important article of faith. My son keeps asking me, what did I do to deserve this? I don't have an answer."

You may read a previous press release on a discrimination case assisted by UNITED SIKHS at: http://www.unitedsikhs.org/PressReleases/PRSRLS-11-09-2008-00.html


Issued By:
Baljit Singh
International Civil and Human Rights Advocacy (ICHRA)
UNITED SIKHS
law@unitedsikhs.org
1-(646) 315-3909

Get Involved!, Click here and Join UNITED SIKHS
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To donate go to www.unitedsikhs.org/donate
This Press Release may be read online at: http://www.unitedsikhs.org/PressReleases/PRSRLS-23-09-2008-00.htm

A PUBLIC INCONVENIENCE

In the Republic of India, we of the Republic of Khalistan have had a hard time. We have been vilified in numerous ways, beaten, tortured, imprisoned, murdered and simply disappeared. We have been called every sort of nasty, evil name, been reviled as 'terrorists' and 'traitors.' It has even been suggested that I personally ought to be kidnapped, taken to India, tried for treason - an strange idea, since I have never been a citizen of that country - and hanged.

With such a proud history, this has got to be a first. Evidently, we are now a 'public inconvenience' and likely to be arrested for that. Personally, being an 'inconvenience,' whether public or private suits my disposition just fine. This article isn't really about Khalistan - it's about problems with Ram Rahim Whuzzit - but I thought you all ought to know!

BTW, I am not making light of this huge row with this inscrupulous person, it just tickled my funnybone to be called 'a public inconvenience.' At least they have enough sense to still recognise us as 'radical.'

From The Times of India:

Is Dera-Sikh row taking radical turn?
21 Sep 2008, 0241 hrs IST, Neel Kamal,TNN

MANSA: The Dera Sacha Sauda row seems to be taking a radical turn. On Saturday, a mob of 200 Sikhs tried to unfurl a Khalistan flag at Mansa-Bathinda intersection.

The bid, however, was foiled when police arrested around 90 people for causing public inconvenience. Here it is, unfurled and unfoiled!

"Some objectionable material used by the agitating Sikh activists was also removed from the venue," said SSP Manminder Singh.

Earlier in the day, SAD (Amritsar) general secretary Gursewak Singh Jawaharke led party activists in blocking the road at the intersection. The protesters, who disrupted traffic to Bathinda, Barnala and Sangrur, were demanding the immediate arrest of Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and closure of an upcoming Dera branch.

The latest Dera-Sikh face-off has been on for the past six days with more and more Sikh groups joining in the stir. On Friday, even Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh had extended support to the protesters and issued a statement from Takht Damdama Sahib saying the peaceful struggle against the Dera was in the right direction.

Meanwhile, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has come in for severe criticism from SAD (Panch Pardhani) president Daljit Singh Bittu, who accused him of showing disregard for the Akal Takht edict and standing in favour of the Sacha Sauda chief for political reasons.

"Sikhs can never forgive the Dera chief's blasphemous act (of dressing up like Sikh Guru) but the government remains unmoved even after (protesting) Sikhs have been sitting on roads," he said.

WHY TRY TO FIT IN? YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!

Courage And Hope - And Freedom, Sort Of - In Yemen

What to say about this? One very strong, brave little girl who - with the help of an aunty - stood up and said, "ENOUGH!"

You know I am sort of lobbying for the rights of very young girls. This story showed up today in the Los Angeles Times. No Anupreet today. Instead a very young woman, already married - and, thankfully, divorced - at age 10. Surely she can serve as an inspiration to all of us who sometimes feel that we have too much to overcome in life!

from The Los Angeles Times:

Yemeni 10-year-old divorcee Nujood Ali goes back to school

SANA, YEMEN -- Still groggy, the schoolgirl brushed her hair, struggled to pull on her socks and snuggled into her school uniform: a green gown and a white head scarf.

By the time she gathered up her books and strapped on her backpack she was smiling and enthusiastic, her nervousness eclipsed by anticipation of the first day of class.




Like children across the world, 10-year-old Nujood Ali went back to school this month after a lengthy break. But Nujood hadn't been lazing about or playing hide-and-seek with her friends during the summer.

Instead, after she was pulled out of the second grade by her father earlier this year, she was married off to a man three times her age, who beat her and sexually abused her.

For many girls in this traditional society, where tribal custom and conservative interpretations of Islam dominate, that would have been the end of the story. But Nujood was outraged. She gathered up her courage and on the advice of an aunt went to court in April. She got the help of a lawyer and filed for divorce.

A judge quickly granted it.

And on Tuesday morning, the divorcee, possibly the world's youngest, once again became a schoolgirl.

"I'm very happy to be going back to school," she said, waiting in her ramshackle home for her younger sister Haifa to get ready. "I'm going to study Arabic, the Koran, mathematics and drawing. I will do that with my classmates and I will definitely make friends there."

Nujood's unusual story of rebellion made her an international celebrity. Since The Times wrote of her in June, CNN, Elle magazine and other international media have come to this mountaintop capital to chronicle her tale.

Hordes of nonprofit organizations offered to help her get back to school, some even willing to foot the bill to send her abroad or to a fancy private academy, though they ignored Haifa, Nujood's little sister and best friend.

In the end, Nujood opted for a small, government-run public school relatively close to her home. She would begin where she left off, starting the second grade again.

Even then, it wasn't easy. One teacher said she worried that Nujood might disturb other students by talking about her sexual experiences.

The night before she went to school, Nujood said she dreamed of notebooks, drawings and new friends.

"When I left school, I learned how to count from one to 100," she said. "Now, I am going to learn how to count until a million."

Nujood said she wanted to study hard, to be able to attend university and become a lawyer like Shada Nasser, the well-known Yemeni human rights advocate who helped her get her divorce.

The girl's experience, and her ambition, have even served as an inspiration to her parents, uneducated rural people who moved to the capital's outskirts a few years ago and say they married her off to protect her from the dangers of the city.

"We were never asked if we wanted to go to school when we were children," said her father, Ali Mohammed Ahdal, who has two wives and 16 children.

"If we had a choice, we would have loved to study like Nujood."

On Tuesday morning, Nujood and Haifa climbed into a yellow taxi paid for by an Italian aid group and drove through the capital's smog-choked streets, passing vendors of the mildly narcotic khat leaves and the occasional shepherd.

Outside the schoolhouse, Nasser stood waiting, eager to share a day she had anticipated. "I can't believe we finally made it," said the attorney, who agreed to drop the rest of her caseload to take up Nujood's cause after the girl showed up alone in a Sana courthouse in April.

Nujood and Nasser were welcomed by Njala Matri, the principal of the school in Rawdha, a lower-middle-class neighborhood along the road to the city's international airport.

"You are welcome here. You can feel at home," she said, smiling at Nujood.

Only about half of Yemeni girls attend primary school. Last year, one of the school's 1,200 girls, a 13-year-old, dropped out to marry, though the legal age of consent is 15. "Now, she's a mother," Matri said in dismay.

Women's rights activists say child marriage is part of a vicious circle. Girls drop out of school and bear too many children, contributing to Yemen's high female illiteracy and exploding birth rate.

But on Tuesday, Nujood stepped through the school's gates into a vast courtyard, disappearing into a swarm of noisy classmates. Some paid her no mind, while others approached the girl who had become a local and international media star.

"I am so excited," she said, playing nervously with her hands.

A bell sounded and the students quieted down, forming lines for roll call before shuffling into classrooms of about 50 students each.

Nujood took a seat in the third row, neither at the front nor the back of the classroom.

The teacher, dressed in an all-covering black abaya, hushed the students and began the day's lesson by asking them to recite the national anthem as well as passages from the Koran.

Small hands shot into the air.

"Who can recite the Surat al-Hamd?" the teacher asked, referring to the first chapter of the Koran.

She saw Nujood's hand, and called her name.

"Nujood?" she said.

Nujood stood up and began, ending with: "Show us the straight path. The path of those whom You have favored. Not the path of those who earn Your anger nor of those who go astray."

"May God bless you," said the teacher.

"Let's give her a round of applause."

The others clapped as Nujood sat down, a little girl once again.

daragahi@latimes.com

Special correspondent Minoui reported from Sana and staff writer Daragahi from Beirut

*******************************************

Pictures by Delphine Munoui:

Nujood Ali, 10, stands near her home on the outskirts of Sana, Yemen. Her father gave Nujood's hand in marriage to a man three times her age.




Nujood Ali sits with her father, Ali Mohammed Ahdal, who is unemployed and has two wives and 16 children. Yemeni law sets the age of consent at 15. But tribal customs and interpretations of Islam often trump the law in this country of 23 million.




ONE THOUSAND CHEERS FOR THIS LADY!!Human rights lawyer Shada Nasser is representing Nujood Ali. Publicity surrounding the case prompted calls for tightened legislation, which conservative Yemeni lawmakers refused to take up.




Nujood Ali, left, sits in the living room of her modest home with her mother, Shuaieh. “All I want now is to finish my education,” Nujood said. “I want to be a lawyer.”






Ten-year-old Nujood Ali, left, waits for her sister to get ready for their first day of school. She was pulled out of classes earlier this year by her parents who married her off to a man three times her age.

Nujood, left, enjoys a day at an amusement park with her younger sister Haifa. After being married to a man aged 30 and suffering physical and sexual abuse, Nujood went to court to get a divorce, becoming a sensation in Yemen and abroad.

Nujood Ali, left, enjoys a break at a playground with her older sister Mona as she got ready to go back to school this week. Child marriage is common in Yemen, which suffers a vicious cycle of poverty, high female illiteracy, early marriage and booming population.

Nujood Ali, second row, right , sits with classmates during her first day back to school Tuesday. Many schools had refused her admission, fearing that she might share her experience of sexual abuse with fellow students. But the principal of a small government-run school in Sana welcomed her.

Bodecker

A picture of Anupreet Kaur the Survivor, dressing up in her first chunni - along with her teddy tee.

Picture removed at parents' request

When I was a girl, my real academic education always took place at home with Dad as my teacher, so in a way I was home schooled. I always went to public school, as well, because Dad wanted me to have some social development among all sorts of people.

One of my seventh grade teachers turned out to be one of the most influential people in my life. His name was Mr. Bodecker. If I ever knew his given name, it is now long forgotten. He was incredibly intelligent and held some very unpopular political opinions. I had a great deal of respect for him.

One day he took me aside. 'Mai, I need to talk to you.

'You and I are what are called intellectuals. We live by our brain power. And we tend to get above ourselves. I don't want you to make that mistake. I cannot stand the thought of you becoming a snob.'

He was talking very seriously; clearly this was something important to him. 'We like to think that we are the most important people in society, but we aren't. Not at all. Society could get along without us perfectly well. It wouldn't be as easy or as much fun, but it would be possible. We are not the meat and potatoes of society.

We are just the dessert.'

Being thirteen years old, I interrupted. 'We don't eat meat.

'OK, what do you eat?'

'Dal and roti and paneer and vegetables and curd. Really good stuff.'

He laughed. 'We are not the dal and roti and paneer and curd - whatever those are - and vegetables and potatoes of society.'

'There are, however, people who really are necessary. Mostly they all into roughly three categories.'

'First are the producers, most importantly those who provide us with food. Farmers. And farm workers of all sorts. Nobody could live without the food they provide, the nourishment necessary to sustain life.'

'But that food wouldn't do us any good if it rotted on the farm, so we also need people to get it to us. Truck drivers, loaders, packers, grocers, all the people that get that dal and roti and paneer and vegetables and curd and potatoes to us.'

'And then there are those who clean up the mess. These are the least respected, but vitally important. Have you ever thought what it would be like if the garbage collectors refused to pick up your trash?

--An aside. In fact, I lived in Las Vegas for a time. Summers there in the desert are very, very hot, temperatures often hovering around 45C (115F) in the summer. I will never forget the summer the garbage collectors went on strike. My garbage was taken care of, though, thanks to Bodecker's teaching - and my own moral sense.--

'And the sewer workers and the grave diggers' - I didn't interrupt him to tell him we don't bury our dead, the fact is most Westerners do - 'and most women.'

That took me up. 'Huh?!'

'Most women spend most of their lives cleaning up after others, keeping homes livable. Think about your own home.'

I did. In our home, the men/boys did a lot more housework than in the average Sikh home (where, at least at that time, the men did little to nothing around the house), but still the bulk of the cleaning fell to the wives and our housekeeper. I vowed then and there never to be the perfect housekeeper, unlike most of my Sikh sisters, whose homes seem always spotless.

These are people society cannot get along without. Those who produce. Those who distribute. Those who clean up. These are the most important people, the ones most deserving of our respect. The ones who rarely get it.'

'Most of these people are workers, working class people, not the intellectuals. We are not just the dessert, we aren't the cake, we aren't even the frosting. I think we're those little sugar sprinkles that decorate the top of the cake.

Maybe we add a little beauty, a little sweetness, but people ought to wash out there mouths after eating those, they form cavities and eating too much makes them fat. My dear young Mai, we have to be careful not to become just a top-heavy burden.'

'Remember, we make life enjoyable; they make life possible. I suggest you learn to appreciate the workers and always treat them with the highest respect. If you ever start to consider yourself above these people, I promise you, I'll hunt you down and pull you down a few notches.'

To this day, his words are almost a mantra to me, a sort of poem.

Those who produce,
Those who distribute,
Those who clean up the mess.

Of course, I told Dad about all this. He agreed with what Mr. Bodecker had said; in fact, the two became fast friends.

These ideas weren't really new to me, however, although this expression of them was. One of our family legends fits in well here.

Why is it adults get great pleasure asking very young children,'What do you want to be when you grow up, little girl/boy? Do the childish dreams take them back to their own more innocent days, do they like to make fun of children's childishness or...do some of them actually want to know? Whatever the reason, when I was about 6, someone asked me and I fired back, 'I wanna be a Working Class Hero!' I have no idea where I might have picked that up, but it was never forgotten and to this day, when we are together, one of my brothers is sure to start singing - or at least whistling - L'Internationale. I was never actually a Communist, I have always been somewhat left of centre. I was told I'd outgrow this perversion, but I never have.

This philosophy of respecting workers has served me well in practical ways.

When I was, for a short time, playing the role of 'professor,' my colleagues couldn't figure out why, when some work needed done in my office, such as a light changed, it was done at once, while it took days or even weeks for the same service to be given them, or why I couldn't walk across campus without a groundskeeper handing me a flower or two.

As I mentioned above, my garbage collectors came and took mine during the strike, a way of saying thanks for the cold lemonade in the summer and hot coffee in the winter. ( I still provide those to our garbage collectors, by the way. Just a small way of saying thanks.) My 'colleagues' and my neighbours, of course, resented me, but they had never had a Bodecker, I guess, the set them down the correct path. Or seven older brothers to egg them on...

Note: The picture of the Sikh farm worker is from the Sacramento Valley in 1912, from a website called, Sikhs: The Most Visible Yet Most Misunderstood Minority. You might like to check it out.

Kirpan used to threaten someone in a schoolyard

This is not what I had planned to write today, but again, current events have derailed me a bit. I think this may turn out to be very important to us Canadian Sikhs.

I know only what is in the article below. I have no idea what provoked this boy to draw his kirpan as a weapon. Was he under attack, so it was self-defence? Or was he simply frustrated, annoyed, with no physical threat, as the article implies? I personally have three times used my kirpan in self-defence, always as a response to a physical attack, always, I'm sure, within the boundaries of 'righteousness.'

I do know that the frontal lobes of a 13 year old are not fully developed. This affects judgement, as the young person's brain simply does not fully understand consequences. Very few young teenagers have the maturity necessary to be trusted with a kirpan. Am I saying that very few young teenagers should be blessed with Amrit?

Yes, I think I am. I don't think a young Amrit should be forbidden. There are a few and there are also special circumstances. My own son became Amritdhari at that age. The circumstances were extraordinary; under normal circumstances, he would have waited, albeit impatiently, for a few years.

Amrit is as large a commitment as marriage, even larger, yet we would not think of letting a young teenager impulsively marry, would we? I am not saying a very young Amrit should be forbidden, only that it should not be the norm and that the Panj Piyare should be thoroughly satisfied that the young person is ready for such a serious step.

Another concern is the status of Sikhs in Canada. Bluntly, we are not popular. More bluntly, in some quarters, at least, visible Sikhs especially are considered unCanadian, unpatriotic, disliked, suspected, even hated. Let me direct your attention to the discussion in Dust My Broom, about a Keshdharin Sikh, Jasbir Singh Tatla, in the Canadian Air Force, the first turbaned Sikh in the Canadian Armed Forces. I participate in this discussion as 'simayanan,' always attempting to remain calm and polite, perhaps even too calm and

too polite!

Very likely, Dust My Broom will pick up this story, about the kirpan threat in the schoolyard as well. If so, I will put in a link to that.

On 6 May 2006, our young people won a very hard legal battle to receive the legal right to wear the kirpan to school in Canada. A similar legal battle is now underway in Australia. I'm afraid this incident might have severe repercussions for Sikhs worldwide.

In addition, we are all aware of the case of Sarika Singh-Watkins in Wales, who had to go to court for the right to wear her kara in school. And need I mention the ban on turbans in school in France? Our Sikh articles of faith are under attack, it seems, all over the 'liberal' Western world. An incident like this really doesn't help our cause. I hope this particular case is thoroughly investigated and whatever discipline is merited is imposed on the boy by the Panth. I'm afraid we will all be called upon to re-establish our credibility, as well as the credibility of the kirpan as an article of faith rather than a weapon.

The young man in the picture is Gurbaj Singh Multani who brought and won this suit in Quebec, Canada - incidentally, where I was born and raised. (picture from globeandmail.com)

KIRPAN USED TO THREATEN SOMEONE IN A SCHOOLYARD

Saturday, 2008-09-13 16:40.

Richard Deschamps

Parents of students attending a high school in LaSalle are outraged after a 13-year-old Sikh boy pulled his kirpan on another student this week.

Montreal police say the boy became frustrated with two other students during recess on Thursday, and waved the ceremonial dagger at them in a threatening gesture.

Police have pressed charges.

In March 2006, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Sikh students are allowed to wear kirpans to school for religious reasons.

WHY TRY TO FIT IN? YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!