Summary:
Winty Singh, a victim of religious bullying, shares his childhood experience on being a Sikh in an American school.
At the age of 7, Singh’s second grade substitute teacher randomly asked him to stand up and talk to the class about his religion. Being completely unprepared and afraid of being ridiculed by his classmates, he struggled through his explanation which, in the end, created his fear of public speaking to worsen. Later that year, a classmate of his pinned him down during recess and intentionally blew their nose into Singh’s turban, not knowing, or even caring that a turban represents “a sacred religious article of faith in Sikhism”.
During Singh’s 6th grade year, fellow classmates of his began to refer to his turban as a “beanie” due to a comment a teacher mistankenly made. As he got older, the amount of bullying he faced for his religion “intensified, and one student tried to cut [off his] unshorn hair” which was against his faith.
By the time he got to high school, he “no longer felt safe in unsupervised places”.
Analysis:
It’s extremely upsetting how often students are bullied based on their religious differences, not only by their fellow classmates, but also by ignorant teachers. Instead of ridiculing people’s relgion, culture, and/or race, people should learn to accept and appreciate all kinds of faiths.
Source:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/03/opinion/sikh-faith-bullied-winty-singh-opinion/index.html
Olivia Wall- That is very sad because it is our first amendment right to believe whatever religion we want to and that is something that should not be ridiculed against.
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