Writing Resources
Turban Wearing Individual’s Struggle in North American Communities In Sikhism the turban is a head wrap which is considered an integral part of the culture and symbolizes an individuals honor dignity and self worth The practice of growing beard is the symbol of respect for the perfection of god s creation The turban is not commonly worn by many and thus those that are ignorant of its significance are prone to believing negative stereotypes For example uninformed individuals may associate the turban with terrorism as terrorists as Bin Laden or Taliban terrorists have worn turbans Being a minority Sikhs suffer racism and disrespect because of the lack of awareness Baltej Singh Dhillon was born and raised in Malaysia until 16 years old In 1983 he immigrated to British Columbia where he completed his high school and started studying criminology in Kwantlen College To improve the chances to get in high school he helped the RCMP Royal Canadian Mounted Police launch the Block Watch program in his community and was subsequently hired by the force to work on the program and decided to seek admission to the RCMP He fulfilled all the starting requirements for RCMP but he got refused to abide by the RCMP because of the dress code of that time where the turban was banned and the requirement of clean shaven faces Rather than giving up on his career he went to Commissioner of the RCMP Norman Inkster to proclaim about the injustice of the government against the turban wearing community manifested about the dress code policies
