How does one tackle a racist slur when it stares you in the face?
A recent post has emerged on social media that might perhaps lend a cue. Simran Jeet Singh, an Indian-origin man in the US, put out a tweet on Thursday, pointing out the blatant injustice of a racist encounter through a series of photographs (social media screenshots from the looks of it) posted by a white man who felt threatened by the presence of a Sikh man on the same flight as him.
The Snapchat screenshots of the man’s story have captions that document his overreaction to being seated near a turbaned man.
Can a Sikh man not walk the length of a plane without having his motives questioned? What madness is this?
After having described the entire incident, Singh goes on to conclude with some of these remarks.
The positive spin on a racist encounter belies the real hostility Sikhs can face abroad, where they are often mistaken for Muslims and where anti-Muslim bigotry is on the rise.
Some food for thought.
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