“I was refused entrance to Shakers Krakow because my face and dress didn’t correspond to a man’s view of what humanity should look like”, recounts Navjot Sawhney on his Facebook post.
Sawhney is a London-based Sikh man who was punched on the face by a bouncer of a club in Krakow called Shakers. The irony, Sawhney wrote, lies in the fact that the incident happened on the same day that he visited Auschwitz.
I stood my ground while he and his five colleagues surrounded me, and politely explained why his views were offensive. I offered to shake his hand, agree to disagree and move on, and he punched me with so much force that my turban was knocked off my head. My religion and identity lay in a muddy puddle on the ground, to be trampled and trodden underfoot.Navjot Sawhney
When he narrated this incident to the Polish police, they in turn told him that he shouldn’t expect the same treatment in Poland as he would get in the UK, because in Poland, white and brown people are different.
Several people including Polish citizens have expressed anguish at the deep entrenched racism that led to this event.
In his Facebook post, Sawhney voiced the horror of racism and its consequences instead of hatred.
Humanity isn’t disgusting. Just the views of a minority. And I’d like to think even they can be changed. Racists and bigots shout loudly. Their words ring out like gun shots, every act of discrimination a bullet in the soul of humanity.Navjot Sawhney
A few days later the Polish Embassy as well as the club responded to Sawhney’s post and apologised for this incident. Sawhney thanked all people who stood up for him and reaffirmed his belief in humanity.
Another incident of similar racism was reported by Valerie Kaur who was profiled as a terrorist in a US flight over a breast pump.